


Pokémon: Adventures In Kanto

by Roboat



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Beginnings, Exploration, Forests, Friendship, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Original Fiction, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pokemon, Pokemon Journey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24727402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roboat/pseuds/Roboat
Summary: Three friends travel around the Kanto Region. Catching Pokémon, making friends, exploring the world and beating Gym Leaders. Along the way, they encounter Team Rocket, dangerous Pokémon and more. Each chapter is an adventure and a half! Different challenges for out heroes to face. It's an original Pokémon adventure with Original Trainers and their own teams!
Kudos: 1





	1. Good Morning, Kanto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and his best friend, Matt, go on their first Pokémon journey. They catch their first Pokémon and challenge the Pewter City Gym.

It was a fine morning in Kanto. The sun was just rising up when fifteen year old Samuel Halyine wakes up to the sound of his alarm clock blaring loud beeps. Samuel grudgingly gets up as he rubs his tired eyes. He looks out the window to find a Pidgey chirping in a tree as a Caterpie crawled away. While he wanted to smile to the good morning, he was simply too tired to do so. He hears a loud voice in the distance. Someone yelling? My, what are they yelling about...

“SAM!! SAM, GET OUT!! YOU’RE GONNA BE LATE!!” Sam looks confusingly as he remembers what day it was. He slowly turns his head towards his calendar on the side of his bed. He looks at the date: September 10th. The day Professor Oak was handing out Starter Pokémon! Sam just couldn’t miss it this time, so he jumps out of bed and rushes towards his closet.

“SAM!! YOU COMING?!” his best friend, Matt, shouted, barging into his room. He sees Sam struggling to put on his pants as he puts his shirt on at the same time.

“Yeah, yeah! I’m coming!” Sam replied.

“... _Your shirt is on backwards,_ ” Matt told him. Sam looks down at his shirt and quickly flips it around. He rushes to put on his socks. He puts on a pair of mix matched socks, not caring about it, grabs his blue jacket and jumps out the door. He rushes downstairs with Matt following close behind. He almost trips on the family Psyduck as he jumps the final stairs. He tries to rush out the door but his mother stops him from leaving.

“Oh you, young man. Did you set your alarm incorrectly again? I told you 5:00AM was a good time!”

“But I was tired,” Sam replied.

“Well you aren’t leaving this house until you finish your breakfast. I layed out some bowls of cereal for you-” Sam runs past his mother and slurps down his cereal, spilling most of its contents. He quickly puts the bowl in the sink and grabs his shoes. He leaves the house without putting them on as Matt has already began to run. His mother sighs.  
“You have fun there, alright?” she shouted. “And don’t come back without a Starter again!”

“Love you too, ma!” Sam shouted while catching up with Matt.

“So who are you getting?” he asked Matt.

“I want a Squirtle! Or maybe Charmander? I mean Bulbasaur is great, too...” Matt replied. “I honestly just want to get a starter.”

“I just want one, too... Though Blastoise _could_ be nice defensively...”

“C’mon. Stop with your statistics and whatever. Let’s just get a starter and be over with it. They’re all good!” Matt starts running ahead. It’s a while until the lab so Sam picks up the pace as well. He’s not used to running for too long. Sam is a pale-skinned, brown-haired child raised in Kanto. His mother had always told him that his father was from Unova and that she was from Johto. He has his mother’s soft nose and his father’s blue eyes. That’s what he’s been told. He doesn’t really remember what his father’s eyes looked like... or his nose... or his mouth... or him in general. Sam always gets small wisps of his past memories but that’s always what they are: wisps. The only “full” memory of his father was when he was being scalded. He remembers his father speaking about how he wanted Sam to be a lawyer, like him. Yet Sam always had an affinity with Pokémon rather than law. He could recite the power of the average Pikachu, the weaknesses and resistances of every typing known to humankind, the moveset of a Tangela and even the technological origins of the Porygon. Yes, he was a... well, for lack of words, Pokémon nerd. A Pokémon geek. He knew he should be focusing on other things but he just couldn’t. He simply loved Pokémon! 

“C’mon, ya’ Slowpoke! We’re gonna miss the event if you keep lagging behind!” Matt shouted, meters ahead of Sam. Sam was falling behind. He was too lost in thought. Sam starts sprinting again as he catches up to Matt. Matt, unlike Sam, was slightly muscular. Though you could never tell that by just looking at him. He always looked as skinny as you could be, and you could even slightly see his ribs. He played basketball in his free time, and no, not Pokémon basketball. Matt never really liked those Pokémon sports. Despite this fact, he does like Pokémon. He loves Pokémon battles and watching Pokémon in the wild. He loves them like Sam, though he could happily admit that Sam was the “bigger Pokéfan.” Matt has black, spiky hair and a slightly tanned body. He’s wearing his signature black sweater and his old, dirty hiking boots. He’s had them since forever, though he never wants to let them go. He considers them his “good luck boots” because his father caught a shiny Vulpix when he first wore them. Ever since that day, whenever his dad wore those shoes, he would win pretty much every battle. His shiny Vulpix, which he named Lucky, was shown to have relatively superior strength in the battle department, and after he evolved it into a Ninetales, he had managed to become the champion of Kanto. After six full years of not being beat, he resigned his role in favour of a new champion, who had almost managed to beat Lucky for the first time. At the age of twenty-four, his father retired using all of the money he had gained from being champion. On Matt’s tenth birthday, he had received his father’s boots as a gift, and since then he hasn’t worn any other footwear. He’s hoping that someday, he, himself, will find a shiny, but that day hasn’t come yet.

Sam and Matt soon arrive at the Pallet Town lab. It’s oddly empty compared to the other times they went. They both rush through the door to see Professor Oak sitting at his desk with a steaming cup of tea in hand. He gets startled at the bursting doors and turns around, almost spilling his tea on the floor.

“Hello, Professor! We’re here for our Starter Pokémon!” Sam said with a childish grin. He leans on the wall and pants. Professor Oak looks awkwardly at the two.

“So... about the Starter Pokémon... They’re... _gone._ ” Professor Oak replied.

“What?!” Matt shouted, mortified. Sam, panting, looks up with a sad expression.

“Are they really gone? Do you have any extra Pokémon perhaps? A Pidgey? Pikachu? Anything?” Samuel asked desperately.

“I’m afraid not, Samuel. I have none left. You should’ve came earlier. You were simply too late.” Matt sighs, accepting his sad fate while Sam looks worryingly at the floor.

“Will we ever get a Starter, Matt? This is the fifth time that this has happened!” Matt looks at Sam.

“Well _someone_ could get ready sooner,” Matt says. The two start to leave the lab as Oak interrupts them.

“Wait! I may not have any caught Pokémon, though I do have some empty Poké Balls you can use!” Sam and Matt look wide-eyed at Professor Oak. Their jaws are open in a mix of shock, happiness and excitement.

“Really? We can actually get a Pokémon this year?” Matt asked the grinning Professor.

“Why yes. You will need to be extremely careful, though. Make sure you don’t catch any Pokémon who are too dangerous and be safe. I’ll give you each one Poké Ball, so don’t waste it,” the Professor strictly tells the two children.

“Yes, sir!” Sam says, doing a little salute. Professor Oak reaches for his desk and pulls out two Poké Balls from a drawer. He hands one to Sam and one to Matt, who both hold them extremely carefully.

“You two go now, before the Pokémon catch themselves!” Professor Oak exclaims. Sam and Matt nod and proceed to exit the lab with excitement. Professor Oak waves them goodbye, then immediately sits back down into his chair to drink his tea.

After obtaining their Poké Balls, Sam and Matt head to Viridian Forest, the nearest location to find wild Pokémon. Giddy with excitement, they take their time and look around the forest. The two of them have never really explored the forest, as it was often off-limits by their parents and teachers. Seeing all these Pokémon up close is a new experience for both of them. They see multiple Weedle, Caterpie and Pikachu in the grass, while Metapod and Kakuna hang from the trees. Some Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and even Butterfree fly overhead.

“Wow! This place is just... amazing!” Matt exclaims.

“Yeah! I really don’t know what to catch!” Sam replies. The two look around for a bit.

“Look at that Kakuna!” Matt whispers to Sam. He points to a larger than average kakuna on the floor, battling a Metapod for territory. The Metapod shoots a line of string at the Kakuna but it dodges it and finishes the Metapod with a lethal Poison Sting.

“Wow! Imagine what it could do when it evolves!” Matt whispers with determination in his eyes. He puts his arm back, closes one eye and begins to aim. Sam quickly grabs his arm, exclaiming:

“You gotta weaken it first!”

“How am I supposed to weaken it if I don’t have any Pokémon?” Matt replies. “Besides, it’s already weakened from the fight it was just in.” Sam lets go of Matt’s arm and steps away. Matt starts aiming again, and throws his Poké Ball at the wild Kakuna. The Kakuna, startled, cannot move in time to avoid the Poké Ball, and ends up getting hit. The Poké Ball consumes the Kakuna and falls to the ground. It rattles and shakes for a while as suspense builds between Matt and Sam. After what seemed like five whole minutes, they both cheer on when the Poké Ball finally stops moving and clicks shut. It sparkles, signifying a successful capture. Sam and Matt stare for a second then celebrate. Matt grabs for his Poké Ball and throws it up in the air, catching it on its way down.

“Dude! I just caught a Kakuna!” Matt exclaims.

“Dang! I never knew how suspenseful it was to catch a Pokémon!” Sam says, looking at his Poké Ball. “Now I want to catch something!”

“Then let’s find one! Let’s go!” The two venture off deeper into the forest. While Sam sees multiple cool Pokémon, he can’t seem to pinpoint one. Each Pokémon has their own strengths and weaknesses, which didn’t help with Sam’s choice.

“Metapod being a pure Bug-type means it’s weak to Fire, Rock and Flying-type attacks... though it evolves into Butterfree, a Bug/Flying-type Pokémon, making it extremely weak to Rock-type attacks... but a Pikachu, being electric, is resistant to flying and only weak to ground...” Sam thought to himself. After a full ten minutes of searching, Sam and Matt found a lone Pikachu in a grass patch. It looked strong enough. It was definitely fast, as he could tell it had a timid nature. It was nervously speeding around the grass, looking for berries. A timid nature, of course, increases its speed and lowers its attack. Not like it needed that attack, anyways, as Pikachu is more suited for special attacks. Not by much, but still more suited. He slowly and carefully walks towards the Pikachu. The Mouse Pokémon turns to face Sam. Sam walks even slower now, carefully trying to get close to the Pikachu without scaring it.

“Hey buddy... I’m not going to hurt you... I’m only a friend...” The Pikachu, sniffing berries, dashes off into the trees. Sam groans. Matt pulls on his shoulder and they chase after the Pikachu. The Pikachu, however, easily outmaneuvers Sam, making him crash into several trees. The Pikachu finally screeches to a halt as it looks up to see something... a berry. Though when Sam looks up to see what the Pikachu is looking at, he sees something different. Sam stops as well and looks up into the trees. He sees a Zubat holding a ripe Razz Berry in its mouth, flying high and screeching at the Pikachu. The Zubat looks... distressed? The Zubat screeches at the Pikachu again and again before the Pikachu tries to zap it with a powerful Thunder Shock. The scared Zubat easily dodges the attack and hits back with a Supersonic, confusing the Pikachu. The Pikachu twirls around in a circle before being hit with a Wing Attack to the face. The Zubat easily faints the Pikachu as it starts flying away. Sam clumsily runs after it, with Matt following behind. This Zubat is much faster than the Pikachu they had just followed, though it went in a straight path. Sam manages to catch up to the Zubat, and notices a weird scar on its left ear. Sam assumed it had just gotten hurt in a battle and kept running. Soon the Zubat grew tired, so did Sam, and the Zubat perched itself on a branch to eat its Razz Berry. Sam stopped, making sure not to make too much noise. He slowly creeped up on the Zubat, aiming with his Poké Ball towards it. The Zubat notices Sam, using its echolocation, springing up its ears. Sam notices this, and quickly throws the Poké Ball in fear of it escaping. The Zubat gets hit and is consumed by the Poké Ball. Sam stands as Matt watches. The Poké Ball wiggles and wiggles, like Matt’s Kakuna, though out of nowhere the Zubat escapes the Poké Ball, flying away. Sam startlingly jumps back, watching the Zubat fly away into the forest. Matt watches in awe.

“He... escaped?” Sam asked, perplexed. “I still have my Poké Ball, right?” Sam reaches for his Poké Ball, but when he picks it up, he notices it’s been broken open, unable to shut.

“Dang, man. Sorry for you.” Matt said. Sam desperately tries to fix the Poké Ball, though ends up snapping it in half.

“Looks like you done got oof’d, Sam.” Sam stares at his now broken Poké Ball with sadness in his eyes.

“Well. Guess I’ll just have to wait again.” Sam says, turning around.

“What do you mean? You can’t give up ‘til next year! Come on, we’ll get you more Poké Balls!” Matt points to the exit of Viridian Forest, which is in walking distance.

“We could go see if the local Poké Mart is… giving away or… having a sale! I have some pocket money from my birthday!” Matt says while slapping his jeans’ pocket.

“Okay...” Sam replies, less than excited.

Sam and Matt soon arrive at Pewter City, and Matt looks around for a Poké Mart. He finds one and points to it, nudging Sam to go while Sam stands and looks at it.

“C’mon man! Why are you so quick on giving up?” Matt asks.

“It just... feels kind of... _bad..._ ” Sam replies.

“You do know that Poké Balls aren’t fully accurate, right? Sometimes you get a dud, and this one just so happened to be your first throw.”

“I guess... but it isn’t a good feeling either way.”

“Well let’s just go and try again.” Sam and Matt walk over to the Poké Mart and enter through its sliding doors. Inside, they find many shelves and freezers holding several items. There is frozen food, ice cream, microwavable burritos and pizza pockets all lined up inside the freezers. The shelves hold Vitamins and Proteins for your Pokémon, as well as some Potions. There are many berries, bands and accessories for you or your Pokémon. The Poké Balls are lined up on a shelf behind the cashiers, with some Great Balls and Ultra Balls stowed underneath with a “3-5 LEAGUE BADGES NEEDED” sign. Matt walks up to the cashier as Sam scurries along.

“Hello, good Gentlemen,” Matt says, trying to be mature, “I would like to purchase a Poké Ball for my friend here... actually, make it a dozen.”

“Okay, sir. That’ll be ₽2,400,” the cashier replies 

“Actually, no, I’ll just take one.”

“Okay… That’ll be ₽200.” Matt rummages around in his pocket. He pulls out ₽63 and a few melted candies. He smacks the money onto the counter, startling an elderly woman passing by. The cashier looks at the money, then gains a disappointed expression.

“That’ll be ₽137 more, sir.” He holds out his hand, expecting more money.

“W-well, you see...” Matt flusters himself, thinking of something. “You see… my friend here is _very_ sick... and it’s his birthday as well! He really wants a Pokémon before he... dies... of the sickness... that is... very lethal... and contagious!” The cashier gives an unamused look to Matt. He sighs and says:

“Look. No money means no Ball. These things aren’t easy to make you know. I’ve heard the companies have been selling them at a loss recently. So it’s either you bring me the money or you don’t get the Ball. You two should have already gotten one from Oak by the look of things.” Matt nervously jumps up a bit while trying to hide his Poké Ball. Sam sighs sadly. 

“C’mon buddy. Let’s bounce,” Matt tells Sam. The two leave the Poké Mart and start strolling around Pewter City. 

“Hey, look. You don’t need to try so hard to make me happy. I failed my chance. We should at least heal up your Kakuna while we’re near the Pokémon Center.” Sam points towards the Pokémon Center while trying to keep a happy composure. Matt sighs and looks at his Poké Ball.

After Matt healed his Kakuna at the Pokémon Center, he bought himself and Sam sandwiches and they started eating at the stairs of the Pewter Museum of Science. Matt gobbled down his sandwich while Sam just nibbled it down carefully. As they ate, they saw a girl, about the same age as Sam, walk out of the museum. She wore a white, checkered vest over a red wool shirt. She had black cargo shorts and brown hiking boots. They looked similar to Matt’s, though much cleaner. She was arguing with the museum’s manager, Mr. Dinkley. Mr. Dinkley was a family friend of Sam’s. He always brought books about ancient Pokémon to Sam’s house on the weekends. He even let Sam play with his Drilbur occasionally. Sam had heard that Mr. Dinkley was his dad’s best friend when they were young. He heard they both traveled the Unova region together as kids. But now Mr. Dinkley is old. What Sam could remember of his brown hair was now balding and grey. His eyes were faded and his shirt looked older than Sam himself. It was worn, faded, stained and torn. But why was Mr. Dinkley fighting with that girl? As far as he’s known, Mr. Dinkley is a nice man who believes in Pokémon archeology. Sam carefully and slowly crawled closer to see what was going on.

“I told you once and I will tell you again, young lady. You cannot take any Fossil from this museum!” Mr. Dinkley shouted, still nice but with a hint of annoyance.

“But I know a guy! He can revive Fossils! We can make a scientific breakthrough if we just use some of your Fossils! You could be credited for the single most greatest scientific discovery in years! Just imagine... a ‘Dex filled with information about the elusive Pokémon of the past! Aerodactyl, Kabuto... even Kabutops! Omanyte and Omastar! Just imagine!” the girl explained.

“No means no and that is final! These Fossils weren’t all dug up by me! Some were donated straight from Mt. Moon! Look missy, I am all about the Pokémon of the past but this... this is wrong. Bringing the Pokémon of the past into our world... is that even possible? Even if it is, imagine the chaos and terror it could ensue. From the research I’ve done, Aerodactyl is _not_ a force to be reckoned with... By the look of its claws, they could easily be sharper than diamond-blade saws...”

“Yes but keyword: _‘could.’_ You would never know unless you properly study the actual, living creature!” the girl tells Mr. Dinkley. She is practically begging at this point.

“And what if that living creature kills us all in a fiery rage?” Mr. Dinkley asks in his usual calm, collective voice. 

“Well... well we’d never know until we try!” The girl smiled. “Please, Mr. Dinkley? You know I wouldn’t do anything wrong with the Fossil! I’m an Oak, for Arceus’ sake! I live for science! I live for discovery!” Mr. Dinkley looks suspiciously at the girl, then just turns and walks away. _“So she’s an Oak…”_ Sam thinks.

“Look, missy, I said no and you cannot change my mind. People have worked years just to get one Fossil for this fine establishment. If you really want a Fossil, ask the Pewter Gym Leader. He owns the museum, after all. Though I doubt you’ll get a different answer from him. He knows how much work is put into this place...” The Oak girl slumps down onto the floor, maddened by how she failed to get the Fossil... the elusive Old Amber. But she stands back up with determination in her eyes. 

“I’ll get that Fossil no matter the cost! Even if I have to rob that place myself!” she jokes to herself. She then runs off towards the Pewter Gym, skipping in excitement. As Sam continues to look at her run, Matt interrupts.

“So... who’s that? You haven’t taken a bite for a good two minutes. Just listening to her babble,” Matt says with a mouthful of food. He’s already finished his sandwich. This surprises Sam and he jumps, dropping his sandwich. Matt luckily catches it before it touched the floor.

“You good, man? You almost let a fine sandwich fall to the ground! Speaking of sandwiches... you gonna eat this or what?” Sam pushes the sandwich into Matt’s hands.  
“You take it, I’m not hungry,” Sam says while staring ahead. A few seconds pass as Sam and Matt sit on the stairs.

“Hey! Wanna visit the Gym?” Sam asks Matt, trying to appear nonchalant. “Let’s go scout it out. Be careful though, ‘cause Kakuna’s weak against Brock’s Rock-type Pokémon.”

“Uh-huh...” Matt says, squinting at Sam suspiciously. Crumbs tumble off his chin. “Yes. Let’s go…” Matt engulfs the rest of the sandwich and the two start strolling along to the Pewter Gym. This Pokémon Gym specializes in Rock-type Pokémon, though Ground-type Pokémon are used just as equally. Several sources say it’s one of the easier Gyms, so it’s an attraction for new Trainers. Sam and Matt arrive to the front of the building: a rocky, stone structure supported by red, rusting metal beams. Over the door, “PEWTER GYM” is chiseled into the top left corner of a massive stone. Sam and Matt stand in front of the corroding, steel doors and give them a good push. The doors creek as they enter inside a dimly-lit, archaic room. The walls and pillars seem to be made of stone, while the floor is metallic. Two massive stands line opposite sides of the room, fully empty. Under them, massive garage doors are shut within the walls. Sam and Matt look ahead to see Brock, the Gym’s Leader, standing on a rocky podium atop some stairs. Below him is the girl, arguing with Brock.

“I’m sorry, lady, but these Fossils aren’t for sale!” Brock said. “If you really want some, then you could try and find them yourself. That’s how they all ended up in that museum, right?” The girl looks angrily at Brock. Brock notices Sam and Matt at the door. He signals for them to wait a second.

“You don’t understand!” the girl said. “I need these Fossils now! I know a guy who has a machine which can revive Fossil Pokémon! All we need now are the Fossils, and I don’t think any of us can wait months, let alone years, to finally test this machine!”

“Well sorry, lady. That’s just life. Now please, can you leave? I appear to have challengers to battle.” The girl looks back to see Sam and Matt. Sam tries to hide behind the door while Matt looks in confusion. The girl angrily walks out of the building, stomping her feet. Matt makes way for the girl as she passes through the doorway. Sam gets out of hiding. Brock looks straight at the two from his podium. Matt looks awkwardly at Sam.

“Am I... am I fighting him now?” Matt whispers. “Or did we just come here to look at that girl?” Sam blushes a bit. “Well?”

“I guess you could try,” Sam whispers.

“So. Are you two going to challenge me to a Gym Battle?” Brock says.

“Uh, yes. I wish to challenge you to a Gym Battle,” Matt responds.

“Very well then. Is this your first Gym match?”

“Yes.”

“Okay... A Gym match is different from other battles. This match is for Pokémon League authorization, so there are special rules. We will use two Pokémon each.”

“... What about one..?” Brock looks at Matt funnily.

“You wish to use one Pokémon?” Matt gives Sam a nervous look.

“... Yes...”

“Well then. Suit yourself.” Brock snaps his fingers, and the garage doors to the side of the room start opening. Rocky terrain starts to slide onto the arena, with each garage door holding half of it. Eventually, they meet in the middle and clash together, forming a mostly flat arena with large rocks surrounding the sides. Brock jumps down from his podium, holding his Poké Ball.

“Let the match begin,” Brock says. “You may send in your Pokémon.”

“Okay...” Matt says, grabbing for his Poké Ball inside his sweater’s pocket. He holds it in different positions, trying to get the positioning right on the throw. Eventually, he gives up and tries to throw the Poké Ball the best he can.

“Go, Kakuna!” Matt shouts as Kakuna lands on the rocky floor. It menacingly looks ahead while making buggy gurgles.

“Is that all you have?” Brock asks, perplexed. “Well, I can’t turn down a challenge.” Brock throws his Poké Ball masterfully, making Matt jealous.

“Go, Geodude!” Brock shouts as his Geodude lands with a huge thump onto the rocky ground. Its arms are crossed across its head, eyes closed, as it slowly floats itself up into the air. It suddenly opens its arms and utters its name with pride. Matt looks at its performance in awe, but quickly gets himself focused on the battle.

“You may go first,” Brock says.

"Okay...” Matt replies, realizing he doesn’t know his Kakuna’s moves. “Uhh, Sam? What does my Kakuna know?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Sam says, sighing. “Well it should know Poison Sting, String Shot and Harden.”

“Are any of them good against Geodude?”

“Well... no.”

“Oh great. Well, which ones damage?”

“Poison Sting.”

“... Only Poison Sting? Huh.” Matt back at Kakuna, who’s having a stare-off against the Geodude. “Kakuna, use Poison Sting!”

“Bxx bxx!” Kakuna sounds as it jumps into the air. It takes out its scythe-like claws as they begin to turn purple. It aims towards Geodude.

“Geodude, use Defense Curl!” Brock shouts. Geodude curls itself into a ball, increasing its defense against oncoming attacks. Kakuna hits Geodude with all its force, though Geodude appears unscathed.

“What?!” Matt shouts.

“Told you. It’s not effective,” Sam replies.

“So what do I do now?”

“Well you could come back with better Pokémon. Your Kakuna is unfit for a Rock-type Leader like me, so you may forfeit now and come later,” Brock calmly tells Matt. Matt looks at his Kakuna with doubt, but immediately shakes it off.

“No way I’m gonna concede!! Kakuna, use String Shot!”

“Bxxx!” Kakuna sounds as it fires a silky, yet strong, shot of string. It entangles the Geodude, wrapping its fists together.

“Nice strategy...” Brock says, smirking, “but it’s my duty to fire back! Geodude, use Tackle!”

“Geo Geo!” Geodude says as it struggles. In its struggle, the silky rope just tangles him up even more. Matt grins with excitement. 

“Now Kakuna, use Poison Sting!” Kakuna jumps up into the air. It takes out one of its glowing purple claws and slices through the Geodude, accidentally cutting the string in the process.

“Looks like your Kakuna wasn’t careful enough,” Brock says while grinning. Sam looks suspensefully at the Kakuna and Matt. 

“Geodude, use Tackle!”

“Geooo!” Geodude launches itself at Kakuna. The weight of the tackle knocks Kakuna hard.

“Kakuna, protect yourself with Harden!”

“Bx bx bxxx!” Kakuna’s body starts shining as its shell hardens. The Geodude bounces off Kakuna and gets ready for its next command, anger in its eyes.

“Your Kakuna looks mad. Maybe it should calm down. Rock spas always help. Here, I’ll even give you one! Geodude! Rollout!” Brock smiles at Matt. “You should know. I only use this move when times get desperate so you’ve got me down to that peg.” Matt looks confused as he tries to remember what Rollout does. Geodude rolls itself into a ball and rushes forward at Kakuna. The rolling Geodude bashes Kakuna and knocks it back. Kakuna quickly recovers and prepares for Geodude’s next attack. Geodude rolls itself back into a ball and charges at Kakuna once more. 

“Dodge it!” Matt shouts. Kakuna dodges the Geodude with ease and looks at it fiercely. Matt sighs in relief.

“I love a good miss. Get some damage off with Tackle!” says Brock. Geodude lunges towards Kakuna but Kakuna is ready.

“Kakuna, use Poison Sting!” Kakuna pulls its glowing claws out once more and launches itself into the air, meeting Geodude in the middle. Geodude tries to attack but Kakuna slashes before Geodude with a critical hit, poisoning Geodude in the process. The Geodude starts coughing and falls to the ground, its face turning purple.

“No! Geodude!” Brock shouts. The Geodude stays on the ground, crippled by the sickness.

“Quick, Kakuna, use Poison Sting again!” Matt shouts as Kakuna attacks once more. Its purple claws slash Geodude with full force as its unable to dodge. The force from the blow was so strong, the ground emitted a massive clump of smoke. The smoke clears up as Kakuna is seen standing on a fainted Geodude. Brock looks, surprised. He then smiles.

“Well played. You did good, kid. Your Kakuna was great, too. Even though it was weak to my very Gym, it still carried on,” Brock said, sending back Geodude. Matt looks at Kakuna in excitement.

“So do I get my badge now?” Matt asks.

“Heh... hope you’re ready for seconds... Go, Onix!” Brock throws his Poké Ball up in the air, sending out an Onix. It roars as it shakes the entire Gym. Matt steps back and so does Kakuna.

“Well... you have the honours...” Brock says, smirking. Matt looks up at the huge Onix, who’s eyes tell him that he isn’t playing no more games.

“K-K-Kakuna... use P-Poison Sting?” Matt says, unsure of himself. He trembles at the size of the rock snake behemoth.

“B-bxxx!!” Kakuna cries as it readies up its poisoned claws. Brock grins. 

“Onix, use Bind!” Brock shouts. Onix grabs Kakuna midair, letting a roar out, and begins to squeeze it. Kakuna struggles to move.

“Kakuna, use Harden!” Matt shouts. Kakuna’s shell glows a pure white, yet Onix keeps holding on. Matt is surprised.

“Kakuna, use Harden again!” Kakuna’s shell becomes even harder, yet Onix is still squeezing just as strong. Brock grins. Matt struggles to think of something. 

“Do you give up?” Brock asks. Matt looks at his Kakuna, who’s struggling to move in Onix’s grasp. After what felt like hours, Matt had to make the decision.

“I... I give up...” he says grudgingly, looking down.

“Very well, then,” Brock replies. “Onix, stop.” Onix stops holding onto Kakuna, letting it drop onto the floor. Matt runs to Kakuna and picks it up.

“You okay, buddy?” Matt asks.

“Bxx bxxx...” Kakuna gurgles weakly. Brock sends back Onix and walks to Matt. Matt continues to cradle his Kakuna in his arms.

“I gotta say, kid. You did good back there,” Brock says. “That Kakuna and you have a long way to go, but I’m sure you could make it if you really try. You two have real potential.” Matt looks up at Brock. His face becomes serious and he nods. Matt puts Kakuna back into its Poké Ball, then stands up.

“Come rematch me when you’re stronger,” Brock says. “Then we’ll see who wins...”

“Got it!” Matt says, turning around. “Now let’s go, Sa-” Matt looks over to where Sam was standing, yet no-one was there.


	2. New Friends...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam goes to inspect a mysterious girl and danger ensues.

The doors slightly creek as Sam exits the Gym. He simply couldn’t get this feeling out of him. A feeling he’s never had before. He knows his friend wants him to watch his first battle, but he simply couldn’t do it. Something about that Oak girl stuck with him since the second he’d seen her. He carefully walks along the dirt path of Pewter City, really absorbing the scenery. Then he sees the Oak girl. Sam decides to follows the girl all the way to Mt. Moon. The place where the Fossils came from... _“What is she doing?”_ he thought. He couldn’t bother to get closer as then she’d notice him. Oak rushed into the large cave and Sam followed. He scans the whole cave for any sign of her but it seems she left no trace. Sam walks around the cave. The cave holds several wandering Paras, floating Geodude and even some Zubat flying high above. Sam absentmindedly walks around as he thinks about what he just did.

“ _I bailed on Matt. What was I doing? Why am I even following her?”_ he thinks to himself. Sam was lost in thought as he almost falls down into a hole. He luckily grabs on to a ladder and only gains a few scrapes and scratches. He hears movement and talking down inside the hole and also sees some footprints in the grainy sand down below. Sam jumps down, creating a sound that echoes through the small tunnel. Sam carefully walks down the tunnel, trying to make as little noise as possible. He passes a few sleeping Paras, and even some battling Geodude. Sam soon makes it to the end of the long tunnel and sees a whole crew of people in uniform. There was caution tape everywhere and construction vehicles laying around. Suddenly, Sam put the pieces together. The girl was here to take a Fossil from the excavation site. Sam didn’t know how to feel about this fact. He stood and looked, and he then remembered what the girl had said before... _“I’ll get that Fossil no matter the cost! Even if I have to rob that place myself!”_ While Sam knew that the girl would probably have stolen a Fossil, he still was unsure. He decided to go as close as he could to the caution tape. He soon notices the girl carefully hiding behind beams and trucks, getting closer and closer to a certain tunnel. She goes to a tunnel with a scientist guarding in front. She sneakily makes it beside the tunnel without the scientist noticing. Sam follows in her path and tries to be as sneaky as possible, yet failing. He makes poles tumble, rocks crack and chains clatter. Most workers can’t hear the clattering and falling due to their ear muffs and power tools, but one worker who was about to take her break sees a pile of dirt tumble and crash. She looks for a second, confused. Her eyes widen as she realizes the situation.

“A CODE G!! I REPEAT, A CODE G!! WE GOT A GHOST POKÉMON OVER HERE!!” she screams, yet the workers still do not hear anything. She goes towards the main power supply and turns it off, leaving no more noise.

“WE GOT A CODE G, EVERYONE!!” The workers look around with their headlights to find rubble and chains scattered everywhere, yet no more sign of a Pokémon. While the scientist was looking around for a Ghost Pokémon, Sam managed to sneak into the tunnel. Inside, he found himself in an extremely long corridor, leading to a light at the end. Sam walked and walked until some noises came out the other side.

“Wartortle, use Bubble!” said a feminine voice from afar. Sam could recognize the voice. He knew it was the girl’s. He then heard another voice. A scared, snotty voice.   
“V-Voltorb! Dodge it!” It was then followed by the sound of something splattering... and then _boom._ The explosion was heard rumbling through the echoing tunnel. Sam inched forward to see what was going on.

“P-Please don’t take the Fossils!” the snotty voice said. “They’re the oldest I’ve ever found!”

“Tisk, tisk, tisk. You say you’re a scientist yet refuse to advance technology as a whole,” the Oak girl replied.

“F-F-Fine!! I’ll g-give you one Fossil, okay?”

“Okay? Great, that’s more like it! Let’s go, man! Come on! Which Fossil will it be? Helix or Dome?”

“I-I’m personally a believer of Lord Helix, s-so I’d appreciate if you p-picked the Dome Fossil...” _BOOM!!_ An explosion echoed through what seemed like the whole cave, shaking everybody for a few seconds. Everyone looked around frantically to see what was going on.

“Wait... the museum!!” the snotty voice shouted. Sam, hanging onto a wall from the shake, hears the man running to the tunnel and tries to hide. The man, confirmed a scientist, runs past Sam, noticing him yet shrugging it off. He had greater duties to attend to.

“Wait!” the girl screams, “What about the Fossils?!” The scientist ignores her and lets out a relieved sigh that he didn’t need to give away a precious Fossil. The girl stomps her foot in anger. She knows that if she tried to remove it herself, she would fail and break the prized Fossil. She runs after the scientist to see what the explosion was about. She starts running out of the tunnel and finds Sam, who’s looking at the exit to the excavation site.

“Hey..?” she asks. Sam gets startled and turns to her.

“He-hey,” Sam nervously replies.

“What the heck were you doing? Spying on me?” Sam smiles nervously as he begins to sweat.

“Not necessarily, but-” _BOOM!!_ Another explosion is heard and this time some rocks fall to block one of the tunnel’s ends. Luckily it was the end opposite of the excavation site, and the girl starts running. Sam takes pursuit.

“Why are you following me?!” she shouts.

“I, too, am in a crumbling cave!!” Sam retaliates. Sam and the girl continue running until they reach the ladder, where a bunch of workers and scientists are crowded. 

“Oh, great,” the girl says, annamused. While Sam was also mad about the crowd, he didn’t take this as too bad as he could finally get to know who this “Oak girl” is. 

“So...” Sam started, yet that plan was foiled when the girl had an idea.

“I know! There should be another exit somewhere down the tunnel,” she points into the darkness of the tunnel. “We could get out before the cave collapses!”

“What about them?” Sam asks, pointing at the scared workers.

“Well they can take care of themselves...” The girl drags Sam by the arm as she runs into the darkness. Meanwhile, Sam is having a mental fight as the unexplainable feeling comes back. He obediently follows the girl. She throws out a Poké Ball and a Rattata comes out. 

“Rattata!” she calls out. “Use Thunder Wave to light up the tunnel!” The Rattata shoots multiple rings of light, brightening up the tunnel enough for them to continue on their trek. After what felt like hours of walking, Sam and the girl are both extremely tired as they slow down to a walk.

“...So, uhh… I never got your name..?” Sam asked. It was more like a question then a friendly conversation starter.

“I’m Amy,” the girl says. She flashes Sam a smile that makes him blush, though he heavily tries to hide it. Luckily, Amy didn’t notice. She kept her face trained on Sam. “How ‘bout you?”

“Oh me? I’m Sam. Short for Samuel.” He smiles at Amy but she stopped looking at him. She was now staring at an upward diagonal tunnel. Small rays of light seeped through. It was not like one of those worker tunnels with their stone pillars for stabilization, this was a freshly drilled, quickly made tunnel. Sam turns his head to see another tunnel opposite from the last. It goes down into darkness. He examines the dirt and how it’s still extremely coarse. 

“Do you think this could be from a Pokémon?” Amy asks Sam. Sam, flustered by the sudden question, says:

“W-Well I doubt it. The tunnel is too large for a Pokémon, larger than an Onix. It couldn’t have been a group of Dugtrio, as they don’t enter the rocky grounds of Mt. Moon. Sandslash wouldn’t dig this deep and a Golem wouldn’t have the patience to dig such a long hole. Golem do have short attention spans...” Sam responds noticing that Amy was now gone from his side and instead scooping up some dirt. She looks at Sam.

“W-Woah! You really know your stuff, don’t you?” She says, pretending to have listened.

“Y-yeah…” Sam looks down, kicking a rock down the downward diagonal tunnel. The rock falls for a bit before a klang is heard. Amy and Sam both stare down the hole.

“Rattata! Thunder Wave. Let’s see what’s down there.” Rattata shoots another ring of electrifying light. It went straight downwards and faded when it hit a metal drill down at the bottom of the poorly drilled hole. Sam squints down the hole.

“I think there’s some drill in there,” he says.

“Yeah. Shall we go down and see?” Amy asks. Sam shrugs. Amy returns her Rattata and slides down the tunnel while Sam clumsily follows after. As they slide down, the drill becomes clearer and clearer, until they reach the end of the slope and almost hit it. Amy easily balances on the dangerous vehicle as Sam clumsily falls face first onto the cockpit. Just as Sam gets up, the two of them hear a pair of voices:

“That stupid officer never saw us coming!” laughed a female voice.

“We’ll get these Fossils to the boss without a hitch!” laughed a male voice. Amy signals at Sam to follow her. She opens the hatch on the cockpit and the two jump in. Sam closes the hatch while Amy hides behind a crate of food. Sam hides in an empty box. 

“Shh,” Amy whispers. The hatch opens again as two people jump into the drill. Sam sneaks a peek at the two individuals entering the drill. One was a blonde woman with triangle earrings and red lipstick. The other one was a muscular man with deep blue hair and shades. He’s holding a brown sack full of objects. The woman jumps into a chair while the man throws the sack into an “empty” crate. Sam could tell the bag was chock full of Fossils as the weight of the impact was sharp and heavy and made Sam want to scream in pain. Yet he held it in. Amy snuck a worried look while the man got in the driver’s seat and started the engine. The noise of the engine blared and it shook Sam’s hiding spot. The drill started driving forward as the man hummed and the woman sat there, bored.

“Do we still have those cookies in the back, Maxwell? I’m hungry,” the woman asks.

“Yes, Danna. We should have more cookies,” Maxwell said, sighing to himself. Danna started walking towards Amy’s hiding spot. Amy froze and tried to slow her breath as Danna rummaged through the food. It was hard to stay still but Amy managed. Eventually, Danna found what she was looking for, _Garbodobites™._ She walked back to the front and sat down in her chair. The loud crackle of Danna struggling to open the packaging irritated Maxwell but he soldiered on. 

“We’re approaching the dropoff location,” Maxwell told his co-worker.

“Good. I’m sick of this drab thing. You know, drills are so out these days.” Danna said as she ate her _Garbodobites™._ Soon, the drill started ascending as they approached the surface. Light shined through the drill’s stained, dirty windows and the hatch was opened. 

“Thank Arceus! We’re out o’ this dirty filth-drill!” Danna disgustingly said. 

“Oh and I should be thanking Arceus for bringing me two criminals...” spoke a calm voice. Danna and Maxwell looked shocked but then Maxwell’s shock turned to a grin. The two jumped out of the vehicle, leaving Sam and Amy alone. Amy tries to get the sack off of Sam as quietly as possible and signals Sam to get out of the crate. They both peek their heads out of the top and see the Cerulean Gym Leader, Misty, fighting the two Fossil thieves. Maxwell has his Electrode and Grimer out while Danna has her Ekans out. 

“Electrode, use Discharge on that Starmie!” Maxwell commands. “Grimer, use Mud-Slap on that Staryu!”

“Ekans, use Acid on the Starmie!” Danna commands. The Pokémon do as they are told. Misty is a bit fearful as she is ganged up on. Her Staryu and Starmie are both out. The Mud-Slap hits hard on Staryu and the Acid and Discharge badly injure Starmie.

“Starmie, use Psyshock on Grimer! Staryu, use Water Pulse on Ekans!” commands Misty. Both attacks hit their respective targets. Maxwell grins.

“Heh. This is a pity. Electrode? Explosion.” Electrode starts to glow a bright white as its body overheats. It soon explodes, with the blast fainting both Staryu and Starmie. The blast shakes the caverns and stalactites fall. Zubat are startled from their sleep and start flying away except for one. Misty falls down and smashes her walkie-talkie, which is her only method of communication with law enforcement.

“C’mon! We gotta go help her! Send out your Pokémon!” Amy tells him. She’s already sent out her Wartortle and Rattata to fight. Sam stands for a second.

“Well, uh... You see... It’s just that...” Sam replies.

“Just what?”

“I don’t... I don’t have any Pokémon of my own,” Sam blurts out.

“You don’t have any what?!” 

“I don’t have any Pokémon!” Sam shouts, alerting the criminals of their presence. 

“Oh wook who’s here... some wittwe kiddies spying on our wittwe opewation!” Danna says in a sing-song voice. She then notices the bag that Amy is holding and gets angry. 

“We’ll deal with you later...” Maxwell tells Misty, who sends back her Staryu and Starmie. Maxwell and Danna both redirect their Pokémon to face Amy and Sam.

“Who are you children?!” Danna asks. “And why are you in our drill?!”

“Oh you two are going to receive one hell of a beatin’!!” Maxwell shouts, raising his fists in the air. “No matter who you are or how you got in there!!” Amy looks down at her Wartortle, who nods. Wartortle jumps out the drill as Rattata follows suite.   
“I’m about to show you children real pain!” Maxwell shouts. “Grimer, use Pound!”

“Ekans, hit that Rattata up with Wrap!” Danna commands. Grimer and Ekans both launch their attacks at Wartortle. Ekans wraps itself around Wartortle, disabling its ability to escape as Grimer launches itself towards Wartortle’s head.

“Wartortle! Block the hit with Withdraw!” Amy shouts. Wartortle puts its limbs into its shell. The Grimer slides off Wartorle’s slick shell but Ekans continues to hold on tight. 

“Rattata! Use Quick Attack on that Ekans!” Amy shouts. Rattata quickly zips and zaps towards the Ekans and ends up hitting it. The Ekans goes flying and hits a wall, causing a few stalactites to fall. Meanwhile, Grimer rears up for another Pound towards Wartortle, yet Amy reacts before the attack.

“Wartortle! Use Bite on that Grimer and then shoot him with Bubble!” Amy shouts. Grimer’s eyes turn wide.

“Grimer! Use Harden!” Maxwell shouts to Grimer. Grimer’s quickly hardens its sludge-y body, giving it a white shine. Wartortle charges at Grimer, teeth ready for chomping. Before Grimer could react, Wartortle powerfully bites into its body. The hit doesn’t do much damage, but still leaves a mark on Grimer’s now hardened body. 

“Ekans! Get back up you lazy Pokémon and use Wrap on that disgusting Rattata until it suffocates!” Danna screams furiously. Ekans, against the wall, raises its head and slithers to the fight. It confronts Rattata head on, jumping towards it and wrapping it with its tail. 

“Rattata, use Bite!” Amy exclaims. Rattata, struggling inside of Ekans’ grasp, bites Ekans’ tail, making it let go in pain. Danna’s face becomes red in anger as the Ekans slithers back to her, making a worried face.

“OH YOU USELESS, USELESS EKANS!!” she screams. She sends Ekans back into its Poké Ball and runs towards the drill. Sam notices this and stops Danna in her tracks.

“What do _you_ want?!” Danna shouts.

“What do _you_ want?” Sam responds as Danna tries to pass him. 

“Let me through at once!!” 

“Why should I?”

“Because!!” Danna keeps trying to pass Sam, but Sam manages to block her every time. Eventually she stops trying.

“Okay, that’s it!!” Danna shouts as she punches Sam right in the stomach, making him hurl in pain. She kicks his body over to the side, knocking Sam out in the process, and climbs into the drill. Amy notices.

“Wartortle, use Bubble on her!” Amy shouts. Wartortle averts its view to Danna and quickly spits a few powerful bubbles through its mouth. They miss Danna by a few centimeters, allowing her to enter the drill. Amy quickly runs towards the drill while exclaming:

“Wartortle! Fend yourself from Grimer!” Wartortle nods and gets itself back into the battle, though it notices Grimer too late. Grimer successfully hits Wartortle, knocking it over and weakening it. Wartortle painfully gets up, now sporting a black eye. Grimer is behind it, and it attempts to hit Wartortle again. Wartortle quickly dodges it and shoots some powerful bubbles towards Grimer. They miss Grimer by a little, and Grimer stops charging. 

“C’mon Max! We gotta get outta here!” Danna screams, on the drill. She quickly shoves Amy off the vehicle. The Fossils tumble out of Amy’s hands as Maxwell grins.

“No, no, I’m not leaving this cave without what we came here for!” Maxwell shouts back. “Grimer! Use Poison Gas!” A cloud of purple toxic gas spews out from Grimer’s mouth. The gas engulfs the whole area, making everyone feel sick and nauseous. Amy feels around the floor for the sack of Fossils but she can’t seem to find it. The gas is clouding her vision and making her want to vomit. Amy eventually feels something scratchy on the floor. She squints her eyes to get a better look. It was not the bag she was looking for. As the gas slowly clears, she sees that she was not holding a scratchy bag, but instead Maxwell’s shoe. She looks up to see a gas-masked Maxwell with the Fossil bag in hand. Grimer slides next to him as he dramatically walks towards the drill. 

“Come on!” said a muffled Maxwell. “Get that engine started!” Sam’s pain wakes him back to reality. He looks around the cave. He’s wounded but not severely injured. He looks up to see Maxwell climbing into the drill, with the bag of Fossils over his shoulder. Sam crawls over to the drill and quickly grabs Maxwell’s leg. He tugs as hard as he can, which was not much at the moment. Maxwell notices.

“Get off me, kid!” he says, waving his leg around. Sam did not let go as Maxwell waved harder and harder. Eventually Maxwell said something to Danna inside of the drill. Sam couldn’t make out exactly what he said, but all he knows is that Maxwell sent out his fainted Electrode. He then proceeded to pull out a Revive, handed to him by Danna, and sprayed it onto the injured Electrode. It wakes up and gains its usual smirk.

“Electrode, do what you always do,” Maxwell commands. The Electrode’s smirk becomes bigger as he looks at Sam. The Electrode started fuming as Sam realized what was going to happen.

“Everyone get cover!” Sam shouts across the now gas-free cave. Amy looks up and quickly gets up, running as far as she could. Sam let go of Maxwell’s leg and rolled away. This allowed Maxwell to quickly get in the drill, and it started digging underground. After some time, Electrode turned a full, fluorescent white, causing a nearby Zubat to swoop in. It tried to stop the Electrode, but the Electrode stayed immobile and smiling. The Zubat kept trying with all its force, until Electrode eventually exploded, knocking everybody onto the sides of the cave. The cave started collapsing and rumbling, as a thick layer of smoke limited everyone’s vision. As the smoke subsided, Sam opened his eyes to find the Electrode gone. All that was left was a hole made by the dastardly drill. Misty is in the corner with several bruises and Amy is staggering up from a small cavern formed by the explosion. But then Sam notices something strange amongst the rubble... a Zubat, is it not? He painfully stands up, limping his way towards the supposed Zubat. He gets a closer look at it. It fainted and one of its wings is crushed by a rock. Yet there was one more thing which surprised Sam... _a scar on its left ear..._ He looks perplexingly at the Zubat. He takes the rock off its wing and picks it up in his arms. Amy notices.

“What do you have there?” she asks.

“We need to help it,” Sam says, showing the Zubat. Amy looks at the Zubat and remembers her Pokémon. She looks back and finds Wartortle and Rattata emerging from some rocks. She sighs in relief and sends them back into their Poké Balls. Sam looks around the now ruined cave and decides to help Misty get up.

“Are you alright?” Sam asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine...” Misty replies. Sam tries to pull her up, but a large rock is crushing Misty’s leg.

“That doesn’t look fine,” Amy says, worried. Sam and Amy work together to take off the rock, and find that Misty’s leg is bleeding heavily.

“We need medical assistance, quick!” Sam says, looking around. That’s when he hears some voices coming from afar.

“Hello?!” the voices shout. “Is anybody in here?!”

“Hello?! We need help!!” Amy shouts back. 

“Don’t worry little Zubat,” Sam softly says, cradling the Zubat, “we’ll get you some help.” Amy and Misty may not recognize those voices but Sam does. Matt and Brock come walking in. Matt grins and rushes to his friend, and giving him a friendly punch. This friendly punch made Sam cough out blood.

“Dude! Where did you go?” he asks. “Are you all okay? What even happened here?”

“These criminals...” Misty says painfully, “they stole some Fossils from the museum...”

“Yes, I know that. Then what happened?” Brock asks. “Did they get away?” 

“Yes... with an _Electrode..._ ” Brock shakes his head in disgust.

“ _The oldest trick in the book..._ ” he whispers. “We need to get y’all some medical aid, and quick!” Brock pulls out his walkie-talkie.

“We need medical aid pronto! We’re in the tunnel and have found three injured people and a few Pokémon!” he says into the walkie-talkie.

“Okay, we’re on our way!” a voice says through the walkie-talkie. Brock then kneels down and grabs some materials out of his bag. 

“I always wanted to be a doctor as a kid,” he says. “Never forgot how to do basic shock care.” After a few minutes, multiple doctors, Officer Jennies and Nurse Joys arrive at the scene with equipment. They help everyone get out of the cave and treat them. Misty gets sent to the hospital while Sam and Amy get simple bandages. After Sam got his treatment, he quickly went over to the Pokémon Center to check on Amy and the Zubat he found. Matt runs after him.

“Hey, dude!” he says. “Why did you bail on me earlier?” Sam struggles to think of a reason.

“Uhh...” Sam says. “Umm...”

“I saw that girl, Sam.” Sam blushes.

“Did you bail on me for her?” Sam twiddles his thumbs instead of answering. 

“So?” Sam stays quiet.

“Look, I know you like her...” Sam stops and looks at Matt.

“No I don’t. It was just a coincidence,” Sam says. “I was investigating the... the museum robbery.”

“That happened after you left.” Sam opens his mouth and thinks of a rebuttal, but he ends up closing it and saying nothing. Sam sees Amy leaving the Pokémon Center and he adjusts himself. Matt looks back and sees Amy, then walks away. Amy sends out her Wartortle and Rattata, who are fine and happy as they come out of their Poké Balls. Wartortle plays around with Rattata as Amy watches and smiles. This makes Sam blush, but Amy notices him. She walks up to Sam as he tries his best to not blush. 

“Thanks for all your help back there,” Amy says. “Probably couldn’t have survived without your help.” Sam knew this was a straight up lie as he barely did anything. Yet he felt an odd sense of accomplishment with that statement. Just then, Nurse Joy brings out a Zubat that is sleeping in a white towel. Her arms are covered with fresh bite marks and cuts. 

“Just couldn’t get this big gal to calm down,” she says. “She kept trying to leave and fight back. Is it one of yours?” Sam and Amy look at each other. 

“No... it ain’t ours...” Sam says, clearly disappointed. Amy notices this. Matt nudges Sam in the back.

“You want it?” Nurse Joy asks the group. Sam starts to shake his head but then Matt slaps his back, causing Sam to cough painfully.

“Oops... my bad,” Matt apologizes. Nurse Joy looks at the group.

“I guess I’ll just send it back to the caves,” she says. As Nurse Joy starts walking off, Amy stops her.

“Wait!” she exclaims.

“Yes?” Nurse Joy asks. Amy hands Sam a Poké Ball.

“I think someone wants it,” Amy says, clearly implying Sam.

“You do? Great!” Nurse Joy walks back to the group. “You’ll be able to catch it in the morning, when its awake. For now, it will stay in the Pokémon Center.” Sam, slightly confused, looks at the Poké Ball he’s just gotten.

“G-great...” he says. Nurse Joy walks inside the Pokémon Center with the Zubat still wrapped and sleeping. Amy playfully punches Sam’s arm.

“You’re welcome, silly!” she says. Sam rubs his arm in pain.

“Th-thanks..?” Sam questions. He looks at his Poké Ball once more. The red shines in the setting sun. He puts it away in his pocket. Matt slaps Sam on the back as Sam coughs more blood.

“Congrats!” Matt says. “You’re getting a Pokémon! Another Zubat, too!” 

“Can you stop, *cough*, hitting me?” Sam demands. 

“We _really_ need to get that checked...”

“Hey, Sam! Come over here!” Brock shouts, waving from the doors of the Pokémon Center. “You two, stay out here. I’ll call you later.” 

“Why do you need me?” Sam asks. 

“Well I wouldn’t be such a good person if I didn’t call your parents, right?” Sam became mortified. He didn’t want to know what his mother would say to him. _“YOU ALMOST DIED?!”_ is what Sam imagined she would say. She’d probably take him back home to where there’s no danger, and Sam didn’t want none of that. He wants to explore the region and battle Pokémon! As Sam enters the Pokémon Center, he sees many different Pokémon resting on benches and in rooms. Brock walks Sam towards the video call booths and he presses a button while inserting some coins as the machine started turning on. He then entered something onto the caller. After a few seconds, someone answers. The screen becomes filled with Sam’s mother’s face. Brock looks for a second, slightly blushing, but quickly gets to his senses. 

“Mrs. Halyine, I got your son here,” he says, facing Sam. “He should be lucky to have survived such a blast!” Sam freezes as he could see his mom freeze as well.

“W-what blast?” she asks, nervously.

“I think I’ll let him explain,” Brock leaves Sam alone in the video call.

“What blast, Samuel?” Sam struggles to speak. “Tell me!”

“S-so…” Sam says, stuttering, “y-you know about the museum heist? The one that h-happened just today?” Sam struggled to stay still. 

“No... oh... OH... oh no you did not!! You did not go into that museum! I told you already! It’s just too expensive!! Plus, now you’ve gotten yourself blown up!!” Sam’s mother shouts. The caller shakes from the noise. Multiple people in the room look up from whatever they’re doing to look at Sam’s caller. Brock peeks in to see if everything was going fine.

“ _Please quiet down. Please quiet down. Please quiet down,_ ” the machine says. Sam’s mother stops talking for a second while sweating and breathing heavily, allowing Sam to explain himself.

“I wasn’t at the museum!” Sam says defensively. 

“Then why did that man tell me about a blast? And why were you telling me about a museum heist?”

“Because I was in a cave, ma. And that cave was where the burglars escaped.”

“You mean... YOU TRIED TO HUNT DOWN THE BURGLARS?!” Sam’s mother starts sweating while putting her hand on her forehead. She struggles to breather and she looks like she’s going to pass out.

“Calm down, ma! I’m fine! All I got was this scrape here,” Sam lifts up his shirt to show his mother a jagged scar slashing across his ribs, “... also a few bruises and scratches. I’m fine.”

“Does that scar look fine to you?! It certainly looks painful! Why did you try to stop the burglars? Why?! Did you at least have a Pokémon with you?”

"Umm... well I was with this girl... she had a Wartortle...”

“Girl..?” 

“Y-yes... her name is Amy... Amy Oak-”

“Oak? Son, keep her.” Sam looks confused, but then blushes.

“W-what?! No!!”

“Wait, Oak is involved with this?!” 

“Not Professor Oak... he did nothing! I swear!”

“So what were you doing with that girl... _in a dark secluded cave-_ ”

“I followed her! She was acting suspicious! She was fighting with Brock and Mr. Dinkley about Fossils! She even said that she would steal one herself if she needed to! I just got suspicious! I was originally just watching Matt fight his first Gym battle!”

“... So you followed a possible _thief_ and abandoned your best friend’s first _Gym battle?_ ”

“Y-yes…”

“Sam, Sam, Sam! You remind me so much of your father! All he would do is investigate such little things. It was practically his life! I guess that’s how he became a lawyer…”

“Okay, mom? Whatever you do, please don’t take me back home! I know it’s a bit hard to hear, but this won’t happen again... I promise!” Sam’s mother looks suspiciously at Sam, but later sighs.

“Fine. But if you do something like this again, you’re coming back home immediately!”

“Okay! I will not disappoint! Bye ma!”

“Bye, my little Dunsparce!” Sam blushes and immediately hangs up. He looks around to see if anybody heard it but nobody seemed to care. Sam sighs, then walks out the booth. He meets back up with Brock.

“How’d it go?” Brock asks.

“Good,” Sam simply replies.

“That’s good.” Brock waves for Amy to come to the booth. “You should go get some rest. It’s getting late. Rooms for Trainers are upstairs.” Sam nods and walks up the Pokémon Center stairs. He walks down the small hallway and then notices a room with his, Matt’s and Amy’s names on it. Sam opens the wooden door to find a small, cabin-like room with two bunk beds on either wall. A small window is opposite to the door. He sees Matt laying on one of the higher bunks, asleep. Sam notices that Matt didn’t even take off his shoes before he had slept. Sam takes off his shoes and climbs into the bunk below him, wearing his dirty clothes, as they were his only clothes he had brought. Sam slowly drifts off into sleep.


	3. Flights and Fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy participates in her first Gym Battle while Sam catches his first Pokémon and takes part in his first proper battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stopped adding em dashes so hopefully it'll be easier to format and make it look better now. Anyways, have fun :)

The sun was shining into the cabinesque room. Amy lays dormant as Sam is jerked up and out of his bed.

“Wake up, Sam!” Matt whispered, trying not to wake up Amy. “You gotta wake up!” Sam opens his eyes and looks at Matt. He turns over to the clock which lays on the wall, and sees it’s 6:00AM.

“Why are you waking me up this late?” Sam says, rubbing his eyes.

“You have to catch your first Pokémon, dude!” Matt replies eagerly. “Did you forget?” Sam looks at Matt, then decides to finally get up. He puts on his shoes he left beside his bed and grabs the Poké Ball he had been given the day prior. He and Matt exit the room, though he notices that Matt is trying extra hard to be quiet.

“Why are you so scared of waking her up?” Sam asks, squinting at Matt with his sleepy eyes. 

“I don’t know about you, but she’s kinda weird,” Matt replies. “She seems like the kind of person to trick us into doing crimes.”

“Why?”

“That argument she had earlier. And her being at the museum theft. I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust her.” Sam looks at Matt and shrugs him off.

“I trust her. She fended off the two real thieves and helped save Misty from them.” 

“And... why was she there, again? Heck, why were  _ you _ there?” Sam starts stuttering, looking for an excuse.

“Look, Sam. If you trust her, cool. But don’t let  _ anything  _ else cloud your judgement. Capiche?” Sam nodded, half-understanding what Matt had said due to his crippling tiredness. Eventually they make it to the front room of the Pokémon Center, where Nurse Joy notices them and waves.

“Hello?” she says. “You’re the kids from yesterday, right?”

“Yep!” Matt replies. Sam just looks.

“Your Zubat has just awakened a few minutes ago. Right now it’s playing around in one of our care rooms, so you may go see it if you want!”

“Great!” Matt tugs on Sam, who is on the verge of slumber.

“Okay! Your Zubat is in room 6B, just down the hall there. Here are the keys to the room.” Nurse Joy pulls some keys out, and Matt grabs them for Sam. They go down a hallway to the care rooms. Sam and Matt pass by multiple care rooms while searching for which one holds their Zubat. They see many different Pokémon through the glass of the rooms, including some extremely rare Pokémon. A Chansey is seen in tossing a ball around with one of the Nurse Joys, while a Ditto is restfully sleeping in its bed. Sam wishes he could sleep right now, though it is time to catch his first Pokémon. Sam notices the Zubat in one of the rooms, and nudges a slightly sleepy Matt. The Zubat was flying around frantically, as most Zubat do. It was bumping into everything around the room while screeching. Sam and Matt looked at the Zubat fly around in the small room. Matt carefully unlocks the door while nudging Sam to keep him awake. The door slowly slides open as Matt and Sam carefully step into the room, trying not to scare the Zubat. This ends up not working, and the Zubat perches itself in the opposite corner of where they’re coming from. Matt nudges at Sam to take out his Poké Ball, and Sam does so, expanding it. The Zubat gets startled by the sudden expansion of the Poké Ball, and ends up flying everywhere again, mainly against the walls. The Zubat screeches while looking for any escape route possible. Matt and Sam wait for it to calm down, though it doesn’t seem to want to. The Zubat eventually backs itself into a corner and gets confused as to where to go. The corner echoes its screeches around the whole room. Sam and Matt cover their ears.

“C’mon man!” Matt shouts. “Now’s your chance! It’s stuck in the corner!” Sam looks at the Zubat and takes his hands off his ears. He tries to aim for the Zubat with his Poké Ball but it constantly flutters about, escaping his aim.

“I can’t!” Sam shouts. “It’s too sporadic! Why didn’t we catch it when it was asleep?” Matt shrugs. Sam looks back at the Zubat, and tries to remember the research he’s done on these Pokémon. He remembers making a digital presentation about Zubats for a school project.

_ “The Zubat, also known as the Bat Pokémon, is a cave dwelling Poison- and Flying-type mammal that relies on its big ears and echolocation to guide itself around, as it has no eyes. Zubat are known for being extremely territorial and would only let those who it trusts near them. It is difficult to gain the trust of a Zubat but the most common method would be for it to not see you as a threat, but rather a friend. This is actually the way that Golbat, Zubat’s evolution, evolves into Crobat.” _

“We need it to trust us!” Sam says. “That’s how we could get closer!” Matt nods, knowing Sam is probably right.

“But how do we make it trust us?” Matt asks. Sam thinks for a second. He doesn’t remember ever researching  _ how _ to become its friend, only that it was a method to gain its trust. The fact that he helped save the Zubat could help in gaining its trust, though Sam doesn’t know how to convey that to the Zubat. He knows Zubat aren’t the most intelligent of Pokémon but he does remember that Zubat do have excellent memory. That’s when Sam remembers its scar it had on its ear. He thought he could perhaps show the Zubat his scar, to show how he was there in the burglary, though he soon realizes that Zubat cannot see. He thinks for a few more seconds. Maybe his voice could trigger a deep memory in the cave? Sam starts thinking about what he said in the cave that day. 

“Hello? Maybe... are you okay?” Sam tries but fails.

“What?” Matt asks, heavily confused.

“We’ll... we’ll…” Sam’s face brightens as he remembers what he had said. His voice goes soft. “Don’t worry little Zubat, we’ll get you some help...” Sam tells the Zubat. Matt continues looking perplexingly at Sam, but he doesn’t interfere with whatever’s going on.

“Remember me? We’ll get you some help? I’ll get you some help?” The Zubat’s face softens just a little. Its sporattic flight slows down by a bit, too.

“You did it! Now catch it already!” Matt shouts, scaring the Zubat by a little. Sam looks at Matt and he then pipes down, letting Sam do the work.

“Calm down... it’s me!” Sam tells the Zubat. The Zubat’s flight begins to slow down once more. “Don’t worry... I’m not here to hurt you...” The Zubat turns its body to Sam. Its wings’ flaps become more and more delayed as it begins to calm down. Sam slowly brings out his Poké Ball and shows it to the Zubat. 

“This isn’t going to hurt you...” Sam says. As the Zubat slowly flies in place, it begins to go around the Poké Ball, examining it with its echolocation. Sam tries his hardest not to move an inch, as any sudden movement could scare the Zubat. Matt did the same. After what felt like hours of standing absolutely still, the Zubat perches itself onto the Poké Ball, giving some sort of happy screech with a smile. This surprised Sam, though he was still focused on not moving.

“See?” Sam says in a soft voice. “I’m not a threat. I’m a friend. I’m not here to hurt you.” The Zubat still faces Sam, extremely calm. Sam knows that if he does absolutely nothing, the Zubat will not catch itself, so he had to do something to get it off the Poké Ball. He decides to slowly move his other hand, his index finger pointing out for the Zubat to perch. He puts it beside the Zubat.

“Now please jump to my other hand.” Sam says, worried that the Zubat will fly away. The Zubat senses it and decides to perch itself on Sam’s finger. This is the first time Sam has ever touched a Zubat, and he notices its blue fur is rather soft than its appearance may tell you. Sam also notices the size of its fangs, noticeably small, implying it was a female. He eventually stops admiring the Zubat and goes back to the task at hand. He turns the Poké Ball so that it’s facing the Zubat.

“Would you like to hop on in and join my adventure?” Sam asks the Zubat. The Zubat examines the Ball one last time and gives it a little screech. She presses the button and the Poké Ball opens, sucking Zubat inside. Sam surprised, carefully holds the Poké Ball as it shakes inside his hands. Him and Matt stare. Sam couldn’t believe what he had just done. He had just calmed down a wild Zubat using only his voice. As the Ball shook and shook, Sam remembers the first time he’d tried to catch this Zubat. He thought of the amount of sadness he felt to have lost his first catch, and the thought of how this catch could fail, too. But he knew it probably wouldn’t. He could feel it. He could feel a bond between him and this Zubat, and that bond was strong. So strong, in fact, that as he was lost in thought, the Poké Ball had stopped shaking and sparkled. Matt cheered for Sam as Sam looked at the Ball and smiled. He had actually caught something! His first Pokémon!

“You got it!” Matt exclaimed. ”You actually got it!” 

“Y-yeah!!” Sam exclaimed, stunned. “I actually caught a Pokémon!” Sam and Matt high five and do a little secret handshake they’ve known since they were friends. 

“Now let’s send it out outside!” Matt exclaims. Sam and Matt rush outside, giving Nurse Joy the keys back. They get out into the now midday Cerulean City to send out both their Pokémon when Sam suddenly collides into Amy’s back. Amy falls down, dropping her two Poké Balls, releasing Wartortle and Rattata out.

“I-I’m so sorry!” Sam stutters. He goes to help Amy, accidently dropping his own Poké Ball in the process. The Poké Ball flashes white as the newly caught Zubat is let out into the open air. It looked majestic for a second, though Sam soon realizes that sunlight isn’t good for Zubat. He quickly shades Zubat with his arms as Matt realizes what was happening and joins in, protecting the Zubat. They lead her to some shade. 

“You caught the Zubat?” Amy asks, astonished. “The Zubat from the cave?! I thought you’d chicken out to be frank.” Sam looks at Amy.

“Heh, I guess not!” he exclaims. Amy picks up her Poké Balls, deciding to keep Wartortle and Rattata out to have some fresh air. Matt pulls out his Poké Ball from his hood’s pocket and sends out Kakuna. The four Pokémon look around at each other, meeting for the first time. They huddle into a group and start socializing amongst themselves.

“So... what are you doing today?” Sam asks Amy.

“Probably gonna challenge Brock’s Gym,” Amy replies. “I don’t really like battling but I still want to see how a Gym battle feels like.”

“That’s cool. Very cool. Cool, cool, cool.” Amy looks at Sam funnily and laughs awkwardly. “I’m going to train...”

“Me too...” Matt says, suspiciously. He eyes Sam with great concern.

“Okay!” Amy exclaims. “Well, I’mma go now. I can’t wait for my first Gym battle!”

“Yeah, yeah, great!” Matt says, trying to seem nonchalant. “We shall, uh, train!”

“Okay! See ya later!” Amy sends in her two Pokémon. She waves Sam and Matt goodbye as she walks away, not knowing her way back to Pewter City. She looks around before heading back to Sam and Matt.

“So, uhh... do you know your way from here?” she asks. Sam and Matt shrug. Sam slightly remembers the layout but doesn’t think she could make it through Mt. Moon. In the distance, a beeping is heard. Sam looks back to see a white minivan drive up to him, Matt and Amy. The van’s window rolls down and Brock’s head pops out.

“Hey!” he says. “I thought you would need a ride back to Pewter. Hop on in!” Sam initially hesitates at the offer, though he shrugs it off, knowing that Brock is a certified Gym Leader. He sends in Zubat as Amy and Matt go through the same hesitation, yet they all end up inside the van. Brock begins driving through Cerulean City. The city was full of trees and buildings, a nice little blend of natural and industrial. After around ten minutes, the asphalt road ends and a dirt road takes its place. They were now entering Route 4. Brock takes a bit of a left turn, driving through a little dirt path located. It is surrounded by forest, and there are many wild Pokémon hopping about. This means Brock had to be extra slow, but nobody minded. After about ten more minutes of driving, Brock stopped the car at the gates of Pewter City. They were made of stone, a common theme throughout the city.

“So there you go,” Brock says. He then points to Amy and Sam. “Now, you two should probably take it easy. Be careful. You too, Matt. I look forward to seeing you back in my Gym!” The three thank Brock as they get out of the van. Brock drives away as Sam, Matt and Amy start walking down the massive stone path. Along the sides of the path, several pastel-coloured, modern houses lay. Sam barely remembers this part of Pewter City. He’d been to most around most of Pewter City, but not really here. He only slightly remembers a time his mother had brought him to some new shop around this side, but that was about it. It did seem that the shop was closed as he couldn’t find it anywhere. Matt, on the other hand, remembers this place like the back of his hand. Matt used to live here, in Pewter City, before moving to Pallet Town and meeting Sam. He remembers how he used to play on the stone streets, and how calm it was. As the three are walking, Matt finds his old house. It had been given a new owner, yet it almost looks the exact same. The streets are still old and brittle. The houses, faded like chalk. The greenery as healthy as it’s ever been. Matt has a wave of nostalgia hit him like a full-power Focus Punch, and Sam could see that a bit in his eyes. Sam looks over to Amy, who’s also enjoying the scenery, but to a lesser extent. She’d been here before, though only when her father had some work to be done here and wanted to bring Amy along. Eventually along the stone path, the three find themselves at the Pewter City Pokémon Center.

“The Gym is just over that way,” Matt says as he points down a dirty, grey-pinkish street. “Go nuts. I won’t lie, though, he’s pretty tough. Beware of his Rollout. I was lucky that”

“Don’t worry, silly!” Amy laughs. “It’s not like this’ll be my first fight!” She waves at the two and heads off towards the Gym.

“Yeah. It’ll be your second.” Matt looks mockingly as Amy passes down the street, now out of sight.

“Hey, don’t be mean,” Sam tells Matt.

“Don’t trust burglars,” Matt shoots back. Sam just sighs.

“Why don’t we go train our Pokémon on Route 3?” Sam points towards the entrance to the route. 

“Eh. Why not.” Matt and Sam both walk their way to Route 3. Many Trainers come here to train against other Trainers, while some just battle wild Pokémon on the grass patches. This route is known for being the prefered training location of many of Pewter’s younger Trainers. 

“Rattata! Use Tackle!” a kid shouts from afar. Sam sees many others battling it out to see who has the better Pokémon. All of them seem five years younger than Sam and Matt, which gave them a few suspicious looks among the crowd, but aside from that, it was fine. Matt and Sam both let out their Pokémon. Sam carefully shades Zubat with his cap.

“Hey you! I bet my Kakuna is stronger than yours!” a kid shouts, challenging Matt.

“Oh yeah? Well my Kakuna single handedly defeated Brock!” Matt replies. “Well... Brock’s Geodude... You’re on!” Matt runs off to fight the kid while Sam wanders around. He passes by multiple Jigglypuff and Spearow roaming around aimlessly. Sam decides to try and find a wild Pokémon to challenge. He spots a dangerous looking Mankey in the shade, beating up a few Spearow and Pidgey.

_ “Must be strong to could beat up flying types...”  _ Sam thinks to himself. Sam runs over to the Mankey and shouts at it.

“Hey Mankey!” he shouts. “I bet you can’t beat my Zubat over here!” Mankey looks back. It didn’t understand Sam’s comments, yet it got angered anyways. The now aggravated Mankey runs over It throws a few scratches at Sam but he dodges them easily. 

“Zubat! Confuse that Mankey with Supersonic!” Zubat fires a blast of loud sound waves that hit the Mankey head on. Mankey twirls around before hitting itself in the face. Sam is surprised on how she hit Supersonic first try.

“Now Wing Attack!” Zubat screeches in glee as she swoops down and smacks the Mankey with a super-effective Wing Attack, right onto its noggin. Mankey regains itself and jumps at Zubat, hitting her down with a Karate Chop. While she is extremely resistant to Fighting-type moves, Zubat bangs herself on the grass and looks up to see Mankey coming down on her with three powerful Fury Swipes. Sam looks in horror as he watches his Pokémon get scratched from top to bottom. 

“Zubat! Use… uhh… Absorb?” Zubat looks at her Trainer for a moment before biting the Mankey’s knuckle and absorbing some of its nutrients. However, the Mankey doesn’t budge and repeats its Fury Swipes.

“Zubat! Get out of there! Use... Wing Attack, again!” Zubat tries to smack the Mankey with her wings but fails as the Mankey has her pinned down. The Mankey goes for another Karate Chop and bashes Zubat’s stomach. Sam couldn’t bare to watch. 

“Uhh... umm...” Sam struggles to think. He simply stands there as Zubat continues to get pummeled. Zubat is screeching in pain as Mankey’s anger rises. Sam continues struggling until...

“Kakuna! Poison Sting!” said a voice. A Kakuna jumps in from nowhere and bashes the Mankey with a poisonous claw. Sam turns around and sees Matt come in behind it.

“Well don’t just stand there!” Matt pushes Sam towards the Zubat. “Return him!” Sam startles and proceeds to grab his Poké Ball off his belt. He fumbles with the Poké Ball in his hands before eventually pressing its white button, sending the Zubat back in. Sam, still quite startled, puts the Poké Ball back onto his belt.

“Well...” Matt says, “that just happened...”

“... I-I lost,” Sam says, watching the Mankey scurry away into the darkness. He thumps down onto the grass. He takes out his Poké Ball and looks at it.

“It’s gonna be fine, Sam!” Matt says, trying to cheer Sam up. “I didn’t win my first battle, so who cares!”

“... But were you super effective against who you were fighting?” Sam disappointingly says. “Quad resistant?” Matt fumbles his thumbs trying to make sense of what Sam had said. Matt never remembered the type matchups. Sam sighs, putting his Poké Ball back onto his belt and standing up. 

“C’mon,” Matt says. “Let’s go get our Pokémon healed.” Sam slowly turns around and starts walking.

“So. Are you willing to challenge me to a Gym Battle?” Brock asks. He is towering over on his rocky podium. A challenger awaits from the entrance.

“Yes. I’m here to fight you!” 

“Well come on, Amy!” The large garage doors open as the large dirt battlefield appears in a cloud of dust. Amy smirks as she goes to her position.

“By the way, is this your first Gym Battle?” Brock asks.

“Yeah!” Amy replies enthusiastically .

“Very well then. A Gym match is different from other battles. This match is for Pokémon League authorization, so there are special rules. We will use two Pokémon each.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve only got two!” Amy reaches for her two Poké Balls. “Come on out, Rattata!” Rattata hops out of its Poké Ball and gets into a menacing stance.

“Raaattatatata!” it calls. Brock smirks, jumping down from his podium.

“Go, Geodude!” he shouts as he throws his Poké Ball into the air. Geodude pops out, calling its name while flexing its arms. Rattata’s stance becomes angrier as it gets ready for its commands.

“You have the honours,” Brock says. Amy gives a smirk.

“Rattata! Use Thief!” Amy commands. Rattata charges towards Geodude, getting ready to grab its item with its teeth.

“Geodude! Use Defense Curl!” Brock quickly shouts. Geodude curls itself into a ball, hardening itself in the process. Rattata doesn’t care, though, and doesn’t stop charging to the Geodude. It prepares to steal Geodude’s item. Rattata clamps its jaw around the Geodude’s arms, scathing the Geodude while simultaneously bouncing off it. When Rattata landed, it had managed to steal nothing out of the Geodude’s hands. 

“Heh,” Brock grins, “I never make my Pokémon hold items. Pesky Bug Bites and Thieves are everywhere around here!” Amy frowns but gets herself back into the battle.

“Rattata! Use Bite!” she shouts. Rattata charges at Geodude once more, opening its mouth wide for a massive chomp.

“Geodude! Use Defense Curl, again!” Brock commands. Geodude curls up, hardening itself once again. This still doesn’t stop Rattata, as it jumps up and bites Geodude right it arms. Rattata put all of its power into this attack, yet Geodude seems to be unfazed by the blow. Rattata jumps away, confused. Amy is a tiny bit shocked.

“My Geodude is as hard as a block of iron!” Brock shouts. “Try to hurt me!” Amy is a bit flustered by this statement.

“Uh... uh… Rattata! Use... Thunder Wave..!” Amy shouts. Rattata shoots a few rings of electricity towards the Geodude, but all it does is smirk. Brock watches from afar. Amy watches as the rings hit Geodude without a mark.

“B-but Thunder Wave is a status move, right?!” she says, attempting to compensate for her actions.

“Correct, but Thunder Wave is affected by type immunities, and guess who’s immune to electricity...” Brock shouts. Amy thinks for a second and slaps her forehead in disappointment.

“Oh, I’m stupid...” she says. “Rattata. Use Bite or something!” Rattata charges towards the Geodude again, preparing its jaw.

“Again? Well, Geodude! Use Defense Curl!” Geodude curls itself again, its skin now emitting a small shine. Rattata leans in for the bite, yet Geodude’s arms stay unscathed and clean.

“Oh come on!” Amy exclaims. Rattata looks back at its trainer and sees the distress in her eyes. It turns back, ready as ever to win the battle.

“Now’s time to retaliate! Hit them back, Geodude! Tackle, let’s go!” Geodude jumps out towards the Rattata. It crushes Rattata and keeps it down. Rattata stays strong, however. Despite Geodude’s weight on its body, it still attempts to stand up. Amy looks, sweating.

“Oh, what do I do...” she asks herself.


	4. Getting Along

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final moments of the fight between Amy and the Pewter City Gym Leader, Brock, unfold. Sam and Zubat prepare for their own battle against a strangely dangerous Mankey.

Matt and Sam stroll over to Route 3 with Sam still thinking about his loss against the Mankey. He looks down at the Poké Ball housing his Zubat and rolls it around in the palm of his hand. Sam sighs as the two approach Route 3 once again. 

“Cheer up Sam,” Matt says while shaking his friend’s shoulder. “All you have to do is train your Zubat and beating that Mankey will be like beating a Mankey!” Sam raises his slouching head to look up at Matt. Sam gives a small chuckle then stops slouching, his eyes now shining.

“I’ll train! Then I’ll beat that Mankey at a rematch!” Sam shouts. Pedestrians stop and stare at the two before returning to their own thing. Matt nods.

“Well why are you just standing here? Let’s go train!” Matt says. The two run off towards the grassy hills of Route 3.

“C’mon, Amy.” Brock says, smirking. “I know you can do better!” Amy straddles her head and thinks. She thinks about anything and everything regarding the Geodude.

“ _ Think, think, think! _ ” she tells herself.

“Well? If you aren’t going to go than I will. Geodude, stay strong and press harder!” Geodude press more of its weight down onto Rattata. Amy looks in horror at her Pokémon. She shakes her head and tries to think of something,  _ anything _ , to get Rattata out of the situation. 

“Rattata..?” Amy looks at the struggling Rattata.  
“Geodude. Finish it with one last Tackle.” The nods and slams itself down one last time onto the Rattata, finishing it. Amy returns Rattata into its ball and rubs the Poké Ball. She sniffles a tear and put Rattata’s Poké Ball into her pocket.

“Your next Pokémon, please.” Brock told Amy. Amy brings out her second Poké Ball. She throws the ball onto the floor and out comes a Wartortle, ready for battle. Wartortle turns its head and looks at Amy before turning back and facing the Geodude. 

“Wartortle, use Bubble!” Amy says.

“War-war!” a blast of bubbles spew out of Wartortle’s mouth and slam into Geodude. 

“C’mon Geodude. Get ready for her next attack!” Brock tells the rock-mon. Amy smiles at her play. It may have been a small one but it was a win in her books.

“Wartortle! Bite!” Wartortle jumps into the air and launches at Geodude, biting it in the arm and making it faint.

“Ayy! Victory!” Amy shouts towards the sky.

“It ain’t over yet,” Brock says, smirking. He takes his last ball from his belt and throws it at the ground with immense force. The Poké Ball bursts open and out comes the rock snake Pokémon, Onix.

“Use Wing Attack!” Zubat swoops down towards the trainer’s little Kakuna and smashes it with its wing. The Kakuna goes flying into the trainer’s arms as they retract their Kakuna back into its ball. 

“Finish it with Poison Sting.” he hears Matt say in the background. Sam feeds his Zubat a little piece of bread as he scratches its wings. The sun sets behind them as Matt returns with his own Pokémon in tow. The two head off back towards town.

“Got your Zubat all trained up and ready for the gym?” Matt asks his friend. Sam nods back to Matt, too tired to speak. As they reach the front of Route 3, they hear a rustling in the bushes behind them. Sam and Matt turn around to see the same Mankey from before rummaging through the grass for food. Sam felt bad for the little guy. All he wanted was something to eat. Sam cautiously approached the Mankey with a slice of bread in his hand. The Mankey turns around to face Sam in the face.

“MANKEY!” it shouts and swings its fists at Sam’s face. Sam jumps back in shock as Matt catches him. 

“So it’s another fight you want? Then it’s a fight you’ll get! Zubat! Time for a rematch! Wing Attack!” Sam tells his Pokémon. Zubat flies around Mankey as it tries to hit her with multiple scratches. Zubat then swoops down and smacks Mankey with one of its wings, knocking Mankey onto a nearby rock. Mankey gets up in more rage. It charges at Zubat with its fists out and ready. It leaps into the air and smashes Zubat down to the ground with a Karate Chop. 

“Zu…” Zubat groans in pain. The Mankey runs towards Zubat and claws it with a lethal scratch. 

“Err… Retaliate with an Absorb!” says Sam. He looks over to Matt who is watching the fight unfold in the background, cheering on Sam and Zubat. Matt gives a nervous thumbs up and Sam smiles, returning to the fight at hand. Zubat nibbles down on the Mankey’s back and heals a bit from it. The Mankey is not happy with this, however and smacks Zubat away with another Karate Chop. Mankey then picks up a small boulder and throws it towards Zubat. 

“Hey! He-He’s not supposed to do that!” Sam says in disbelief.

“Well he  _ is _ taking advantage of his environment. I’d say it’s fair game.” Matt calmly responds. Zubat easily dodges the boulder but does not easily dodge the incoming Fury Swipes. Mankey scratches Zubat a total of four times before Zubat is able to break free and hit back. 

“Zubat! Hit the Mankey with Supersonic!” Rings of sound travel from Zubat’s mouth into Mankey’s ears, confusing the Mankey of any sense of direction. The Mankey walks around aimlessly.

“Now Wing Attack!” Zubat soars above and then swoops down low, knocking Mankey out with one Wing Attack. Sam looks at the dazed Mankey for a bit. Not believing what was happening. He actually defeated the Mankey. Not just him. Him and Zubat defeated the Mankey. Mankey falls as dusk rays shine on the victorious Zubat.

“Bravo, bravo,” Matt claps from his viewing area. “Now how about some food? I’m starving!” Sam laughs at Matt’s hunger but agrees with him. He congratulates his Zubat and returns her to her Poké Ball. The two of them start walking down towards the Pokécenter together with Sam feeling a great sense of pride along the way. The Mankey was left there as it recovered from the fight. It grabbed some grass to act as bandages and then proceeded to hunt for food. 

“So who are you?” asks a mysterious stranger. The Mankey turns around to see another trainer walking up to it with a Charmander by his side. The Mankey looks back and forth between the trainer and his Charmander before resting its eyes on the mysterious trainer. 

“I can get you fixed up at the Pokécenter if you want. Just gotta come with me. I’ve seen how strong you fought. I want you to join my team.” he calmly tells the Mankey. The trainer places a Poké Ball down, in front of the Mankey. He looks at the Manley expectantly. The Mankey looks back at the trainer and presses the ball’s button, deciding to go with him. The trainer smirks as the Poké Ball glows and shakes until the Mankey is caught.

“Use Bubble!” a large bubble pops in Onix’s face as Wartortle fires more and more. Onix slithers around the arena, its large size taking up a lot of space. Its goal? Trap the Wartortle. Wartortle keeps running around, trying to avoid Onix’s body. 

“Onix, use Smack Down!” Onix finally attacks, launching itself at Wartortle. It smashes Wartortle in the back and knocks it into its tail. Onix slithers around Wartortle, trapping it. 

“Now Bind!” Brock shouts. Onix curls in closer and closer. The hole darkens as Onix seals away the light. Wartortle panics and bangs its tiny hands onto Onix’s rocky body. 

“Wartortle? Can you hear me?” Wartortle tries to answer but its sound is muted by Onix’s whole body. “If you can hear me, use Bubble on Onix!”

“It’s no use, Amy. Onix’s body is too thick to break out of. Even the strongest of Bubbles couldn’t beat my Onix’s skin.” laughs Brock. Amy starts to chew on her fingernails. This was her last Pokémon. If she couldn’t beat Onix with Wartortle then it was game over. 

“C’mon Wartortle…” Amy bites harder and thinks. Suddenly, she gets an idea that just might work. “Wartortle! If you can hear me, use Rapid Spin and Bubble at the same time!” Wartortle’s ears perk up as it senses its trainer’s call. Wartortle hops onto the tip of its stomach and starts spinning. When it reached maximum speed, it started blowing clouds of blue bubbles. The bubbles popped against Onix but nothing more happened. Amy shoke nervously as Wartortle kept spinning. More and more bubbles popped against Onix as some smaller bubbles even escaped from the small gaps in Onix’s snake-like body. More and more bubbles scrape against Onix as they slowly corrode through its rocky skin. Soon, Onix’s body was softer and easier to hit. This is when Amy took her chance to escape her Wartortle. 

“Wartortle! Break out with the strongest Bubble you’ve got!” Wartortle hears Amy loud and clear as it blasts Onix with an extra large Bubble, getting Onix off it in the process. Wartortle runs away form Onix’s form and gets ready for more fighting. 

“Hit that Wartortle with a quick Smack Down!” Brock yells. Onix slithers towards Wartortle as it gets itself ready for the attack.

“Dodge it and use Bubble!” Wartortle jumps away from the attack and shoots at Onix with another round of bubbles. Onix screeches at Wartortle before charging at it again. It smashes into Wartortle with a critical Smack Down and Wartortle goes flying across the gym. Brock pumps his fist in the air and smiles.

“Finish this with Bind!” Onix nods and slithers its way towards Wartortle. It starts coiling itself around Wartortle. Wartortle tries to jump out of the Bind but Onix is too large. Wartortle makes a huge leap towards the top of Onix but Onix bashes the turtle with its tail, making Wartortle fall back down into Onix’s coil. Wartortle is too tired to get up and stays down as Onix slithers closer and closer. 

“Wartortle? You okay?” Amy asks in concern. Wartortle painfully gets back up and looks up at the Onix’s fierce eyes. Wartortle then shoots a beam of water in the Onix’s eye. The beam gets thicker and faster as Wartortle keeps shooting. Onix screeches once more and retreats away from Wartortle’s Water Pulse attack.

“You did it! You got out and learned Water Pulse!” Amy shouts in glee.

“It’s not over yet, missy.” says Brock. He crosses his arms over his chest into an X pattern and tells his Onix: “Win this with Smack Down!”

“ROOOAARAWAERRR!” Onix roars. Onix charges towards Wartortle with great vigour and smashes itself into Wartortle. Dust surrounds the field as moving can be heard. All seems to be over when Onix comes out of the dust cloud with Wartortle in its mouth but then Onix drops down, fainted. Wartortle crawls out of Onix’s mouth with many bruises. Amy and Wartortle were victorious. 

“Well, well, well. Great job to you,” Brock says, walking over towards Amy. He returns his Onix to its Poké Ball and claps at Amy’s performance. He takes out a small, black case from his pocket and hands it over to Amy. “This is yours to keep.”

Amy opens the small box to see a Boulder Badge covered by a black cloth.

“The Boulder Badge. A sign of your completion of my Gym!” Brock explains. Amy looks at the badge with sparkles in her eyes. She picks up the box and examines it fully. She then tosses it aside.

“Thanks but no thanks. That battle was fun but I can’t imagine doing 7 more of them!” Amy rabbles in Brock’s shocked face. “Besides, I want to focus on my own passion! Completing the Pokédex!” Amy thanks Brock for the battle once more and then proceeds to skip her way out of the Gym. Brock stares in shock for a while before smirking at Amy. It takes a true person to truly focus on what he/she wants. And that’s what Amy did. However, before leaving the Gym, Amy does pick up the black box and sneaks it into her pocket. She then does a silent hoorah before leaving the stone chamber. Amy looks backwards to see a waving Brock, smiling at her. She smiles back and then proceeds to walk towards the setting sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter but one that ties up loose ends. Enjoy!


	5. Tag Team Takedown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Matt challenge Brock in a double battle while Team Rocket get up to some shenanigans.

“Welcome back, guys,” Brock says, waving at Sam and Matt as they walked into the gym. “Back to get beaten?”

“I’ve trained! We’ve both trained and we’re both ready to take you on for a rematch!” Matt shouts, enthusiastically. Sam looks back at Matt with a concerned look.

“We?! I’m not ready! Zubats are weak to Rock types! She can’t live an Onix! She probably can’t even live a Geodude!” Sam panics.

“Relax, chump. I’ve got a secret weapon.” Matt whispers. “You watch my back and I’ll watch yours. Or Kakuna will watch Zubat and Zubat will watch Kakuna…” before Sam even has time to process Matt’s whisper, his friend turns to look at Brock and pulls out a small booklet. 

“Under section C of the Gym Leader handbook,” Matt reads. “Trainers are allowed to participate in a Double Battle if: Two Trainers are present, both Trainers are using the same amount of Pokémon (which is equivalent to the amount the Leader is using) and all parties consent to the notion.” Matt looks back at Sam and winks. “I read about it while training.” he whispers again.

“Well. Someone did their homework! As long as you both allow it…”

“Yes we do!” says Matt.

“B-but I don’t!” Sam stutters. But it’s too late. The Gym’s arena fully opens and the battle is now starting. Brock throws out both his Pokémon as Matt throws out his. Sam looks around then looks at Matt. 

“I-I’m not sure I’m ready…”

“It’s fine! If we lose, we just get some more practice!” Sam sighs, admitting defeat. He lets out his Zubat and gets ready. Zubat looks back at Sam, not liking the blundering rocks in front of her. 

“It’s fine…” Sam says under his breath. “It’s fine…”

“And… Begin!” yells Brock as the battle finally commences.

“Use Poison Sting on Onix!” Matt yells. Kakuna listens flawlessly. It jumps into the air and lands right on Onix’s head while stabbing its eyes with its stingers. Onix cries in pain as it gets poisoned.

“Lucky start,” Brock grins, clearly enjoying the fight. “Geodude, Tackle the Zubat!” Geodude lunges for the Zubat. Sam starts panicking.

“Make her dodge it!” shouts Matt. 

“Uhh… Right! Dodge it!” Sam shouts as Geodude slams itself into Zubat. Sam smacks his forehead. “Don’t panic! Don’t panic! Panic is what made you lost last time!” he tells himself. 

Meanwhile, Kakuna is tangling the Onix in its string while stabbing it with its stingers. Onix struggles to get out and is soon overwhelmed. It roars and blasts away the Kakuna and its string. 

“Squeeze that Kakuna with Bind!” Onix races itself over to the Kakuna and coils itself around it. The space between Onix and Kakuna shrinks as Onix constricts. Matt quickly reacts before the Onix can full bind the Kakuna. 

“Use String Shot on its horn and crawl out with it!” Matt shouts. The sound of his voice is heard and Kakuna executes the command. 

“Keep the pressure up, Geodude. Use Rollout on the Zubat!” Brock commands. Geodude nods and curls itself into a ball. It starts rolling slowly but then gains momentum and is soon hurtling itself towards Zubat. Zubat flutters around, not knowing what to do. She instinctively looks at her Trainer for guidance. Sam looks at Zubat, fearfully. He takes a side glance at Matt and sees him winning his battle. Finally, Sam realises he has to take the situation into his own hands. 

“This shouldn’t be too bad… Dodge it.” Sam commands. Zubat swirls around and dashes upwards, successfully dodging the Rollout. 

“Hit ‘er back with a Tackle!” yells Brock. The Geodude slams its fists into the ground, getting ready for its attack. Sam looks at the Geodude and looks back at Zubat. He then looks back at Matt, seeing that Matt’s too focused to help. The Geodude takes advantage of Sam’s distracted gaze by attacking. It launches itself at the floating Zubat and pummels it into the floor. Sam snaps back into the battle at hand when he hears the crash of his Zubat getting painfully tackled into the floor. The impact created a dusty crater. Matt finally looks back towards Sam’s direction to see the stressed Trainer gnawing on his fingernails. He quickly looks back towards Kakuna before looking back towards Sam. He taps on his friend’s shoulder and starts talking.

“Look man, don’t stress yourself over the—dodge it Kakuna!” Sam tilts his head at Matt in confusion before realising what he was doing. He quickly looks back towards the battlefield and sees Brock looking at him with a knowing grin.

“What I meant to say was,” he looks back towards his Kakuna seeing that it was doing fine on its own before returning to the conversation. “You can’t just stress out like this.”

“What do you mean “stress out like this”? All that I’m doing is battling like you!”

“What I mean is: remember your battle with that Mankey? It was wonderful! This is just a messy brawl that you’re slowly losing. Stop stressing over this Gym Battle. We can try again if we lose. In fact, it’s free to try again!” Sam looks back at his Pokémon looking back at Matt.

“So what should I do instead?” Sam questions.

“You should think of this like a normal battle. Just a wild Geodude. What you’re doing is analyzing this whole fight like it’s a math quiz! A quiz that, if you fail, you fail forever. But this isn’t a quiz. It’s a challenge. If you lose, it means you could get better. I’m not saying don’t analyze the battle, you’re very analytic, after all. I’m saying don’t just analyze. Thinking about something will only get you so far. You also have to act!” Matt says with a smile. Sam looks at him in understanding.

“I guess I’ll try—”

“Look out!” Matt yells, pointing at Brock’s Geodude lunging at Zubat.

“Time’s up, boys. Let’s see if your little conversation helped.” says Brock. Sam looks at the attacking Geodude and is finally ready:

“Hit it with Supersonic!” yells Sam. Zubat swoops upwards, away from the Geodude, and blasts it with several bursts of sound. Geodude’s back slams against the stone walls of the Gym. It shimmies itself back up and growls. Geodude jumps towards the Zubat but misses by a mile. It falls face first into the ground, hurting itself. Geodude shakes its head and groans in pain. Its vision is blurred from the Supersonic and it’s completely dizzy. Geodude groans once more and faints.

“Well done, Sam.” Brock applauds. “Now show me what you’ve got, Matt. Use Tackle.” Onix smashes into Kakuna, causing the bug to go flying through the air. Kakuna scrapes against the dirt floor as it screeches to a halt. Onix rushes towards the little Kakuna, roaring angrily. 

“ROAWWAERR!” Onix screams as it bashes its lagging tail against Kakuna’s abdomen. Kakuna screeches in pain as Onix bashes Kakuna once more. 

“Come on Kakuna! Get up and trap that Onix with String Shot!” encouraged by Matt’s words, Kakuna rises back up and shoots a bundle of sticky string into the Onix’s face, causing it to fall.

“You’re so close, Matt! You can do it!” Sam and Zubat cheers. Onix is being whittled down by poison as it struggles to get out of the string trap. 

“Finish it with Poison Sting!” 

“Bxx!” Kakuna says, nodding. It leaps up into the air and proceeds to slash the Onix’s face with one of its poison-coated stingers.

“ROOAREE!” Onix cries as it faints. Brock returns both of his fainted Pokémon into their respective balls and puts them back onto his belt. He smiles at both trainers.

“Well. You two have earned this.” he says as he pulls out two black cases. He opens both of them and two shiny badges emerge. Sam looks at Matt and Matt looks at Sam. They both gleefully high-five and take their Boulder Badges. Brock gives both of them a congratulatory handshake and they all say their goodbyes. Matt and Sam both walk out of the Gym, grinning wildly. 

“You little dirty rat bag! Come back here!” Danna yells. She’s chasing after a running Maxwell who stole her _Garbodobites™._

“Not until you agree to do _my_ plan!” he taunts.

“Why you… Fine! We’ll do your stupid plan. It probably won’t even work!” Danna snarls. 

“Ohh—but it will. We just need to find a way to bait that stupid theif out of wherever he’s hiding from,” Maxwell says. He tosses back the cookies to Danna. “Then I’ll actually be able to start the plan…”

“I *crunch* don’t *munch* care. As long as we *crunch* get that stupid *swallow* thief what he rightfully deserves! *crunch*.” Danna says with a mouthful of _Garbodobites™._

“Yes, yes. All of that will happen if you follow the plan.” Maxwell takes out one of his Poké Balls and throws it at the floor. Out comes his Voltorb, ready for a command. 

“Vvvvzzz!” Voltorb buzzes. It looks up at Maxwell. Maxwell leans over to whisper a command at Voltorb.

“Why are we in the forest again?” Matt asks Sam. The two of them are walking around Viridian Forest. Sam is searching for something while Matt just follows in confusion. 

“I’m looking for a Pikachu, Matt. The next Gym’s water, after all. It’ll be best to have something to hit Misty’s Pokémon hard,” Sam explains. “Plus, everybody says that Pikachu’s awesome or something.”

“So you don’t even know what a Pikachu does?” Matt asks.

“Well… I know that it's an Electric type… I know it learns Thunderbolt…”

“So you’ll just catch it for the Gym and throw it away?”

“Well… uhh… maybe I shouldn’t get one until I know I want one, Mom!” Sam jokes. Matt laughs and gives him a friendly punch in the shoulder. Sam is about to return the punch until he hears an explosion. Smoke floats in the air and surrounds the forest. Sam wants to go back to Pewter City but Matt pulls on his shirt.  
“Come on, Son.” he whispers. Matt jerks Sam’s shirt and makes him come with him into the smoky clouds. The usually bright and colourful forest is now dull and grey. It’s burnt and smoky and disgusting. Pathways are now charred and blackened. Matt and Sam both carefully walk towards the area where they heard the sound. They sneak up and hide behind a large boulder. Matt takes a peak and sees a burnt and shocked Maxwell with a angry Danna at his side. 

“You said that that would work!” Danna shouts at her partner.

“I did say that it would work! It would’ve worked if Voltorb actually did what I told him to do!” 

“And what exactly did you ask Voltorb to do?” questions Danna.

“To go boom when the guy comes! Not when I come!” Maxwell says, defensively. He looks at his fainted Voltorb and sighs. In a flash of light, Voltorb returns into his Poké Ball. 

“C’mon. Let’s get outta here,” Sam whispers to Matt. “We can call the police department back at—” but when Sam turned to his side, Matt was gone. He peaks over the large rock and sees Matt running at the two Team Rocket grunts, Poké Ball in hand. 

“Go, Kakuna!” Matt shouts as he summons out Kakuna. Kakuna looks at Matt with an annoyed and tired look but (reluctantly) follows him. Maxwell and Danna turn their heads and sigh at the incoming Trainer.

“Look kid. This is important construction work. I don’t know who you are or what you’re trying to accomplish but stay out of this.” says Maxwell. Danna looks at Matt and starts rubbing her chin. 

“I feel like I’ve seen that kid somewhere before…” she says to herself.

“Look. I have no idea what you’re doing here but you should leave before the cops come!” Maxwell leans over into Danna’s ear.

“What’s his deal?” he whispers. Danna continues to think until she finally finds the answer.

“Wait a minute… That’s the kid from Mt. Moon! The guy who came with that pesky gym leader who interrupted our plans!” 

“Well in that case…” Maxwell throws one of his Poké Balls onto the floor. A flash of light blinds Matt’s vision as the Pokémon comes out. 

“Gri!” Grimer cries. It looks fiercely at Matt, remembering him from last time they met. 

“Grimer, Mud-Slap, now!” Grimer dips his hand into the scorched ground and picks up a bit of mud. It slaps Kakuna with it, dealing minimal damage.

“I could’ve sworn that it did more last time…” he grumbles to himself. “Use it again!” the thrown mud, once again, does minimal damage. 

“I guess I could stall you until the police arrive,” Matt grins. “Kakuna, Poison Sting!” Kakuna lunges towards Grimer and jabs it multiple times with its stingers. Grimer gets knocked into a crumbling tree. The tree’s trunk makes a crumbling sound as it cracks, falling down onto Grimer with a boom. Danna pulls out her Poké Ball and sends out her Ekans.

“Show this stupid kid who’s boss, Ekans! Use Wrap!” Ekans races towards the cocooned bug and wraps itself around it. It squeezes against Kakuna’s shell until it hears Kakuna buzzing in pain. 

“Bxxx!” Kakuna buzzes. Ekans releases the Kakuna and throws it against a tree. The burnt tree falls on top of Kakuna just as its fellow tree did with Grimer. Maxwell returns his Grimer and Voltorb to their Poké Balls and gets ready to run. Danna leers at Matt’s Kakuna before retrieving her Ekans. 

“You might want to return that Kakuna of yours,” she sneers. “Before it gets crushed completely!” Maxwell and Danna run deeper into the forest, trying to get away from the blast-zone. Matt picks up Kakuna’s Poké Ball and tries to send it back but Kakuna won’t return. Sam runs out with his Zubat floating above him.

“Hey Team Rocket! Why don’t you face two of us…” Sam looks around the bombed forest with no sign of Team Rocket anywhere. “Where’d they go?”

“Over here!” yells Matt. He gestures at Sam to help him lift the charred tree off of his Kakuna. Sam rushes over to Matt—burnt leaves crackling under his feet. Sam immediately started lifting. He and Matt try to lift the tree off of the poor Kakuna. Even Zubat joined in and started trying to heave the burnt log but to no avail. The three of them weren’t strong enough together. Matt desperately tries to push to log while Sam continues to lift.

“We could wait *pant* for the police to arrive. They’re *pant* bound to get here eventually.” Sam suggests.

“No…” Matt pants. “It may be too late by then. Hang in there, Kakuna…” Matt, Sam and Zubat continue to lift and push and heave in every way they can. Sam continues his attempts at hoisting the log while Matt scavenges for anything that could help.

“Stay in there, Kakuna…” Matt whispers. He grabs a large branch and lodges it under the tree trunk. He tries to use it as a lever, pushing down with all his might. The tree budges a bit but it’s barely enough to move the timber away from Kakuna. “C’mon…”

A burst of bubbles speed through the hot air and knock the wood out and away from its bug prisoner. Sam and his Zubat get whacked by the flying wood and they fall over into a pile of crisp leaves. A Wartortle runs over and helps the Kakuna up from the dirt. Kakuna is covered in ashes and mud. It looks at the Wartortle before fainting. Matt returns Kakuna into his Poké Ball and sighs in relief. 

“Wartortle?” Sam asks as he gets back out of the pile of leaves and onto his feet again. Wartortle spits a bubble into Sam’s face which cleans of the dirt and leaves clinging to his body. Matt laughs at the sight of a soaking Sam before looking back towards the Wartortle. A figure with a first aid kit comes running through the forest. Wartortle gets returned into its Poké Ball as the figure approaches the two. 

“Surprised?” Amy asks the two boys.

“What are you doing here, Amy?” Sam questions as he returns his Zubat into her ball.

“I was looking for a Pikachu for the Pokédex when I heard an explosion on the other side of the forest!” she throws the first aid kit into Sam’s wet hands. 

“Use it if you’re hurt,” she looks at the kneeling Matt. “Is Kakuna okay?”  
“Yeah, he’ll be fine as long as we get him to a Pokécenter.”

“What even happened here?”

“Team Rocket. The same ones who stole the fossils, too!” Sam replies.

“What were they doing in Viridian Forest?”

“It sounded like they were trying to kill someone. Or at least capture them or something.” Matt answers. “Are the police on their way?”

“They must be. C’mon! Let’s get you two to a Pokécenter already!” Amy leads the two to the Pewter City gates. The three of them pass multiple police officers and paramedics racing into the forest. 

“A bit too late, they were…” Matt whispers to Amy and Sam. Amy giggles while Sam just makes an awkward smile. 

“Oh yeah. Sorry ‘bout that,” apologizes Amy as she hovers her finger all around Sam’s clothes. “Wartortle doesn’t like it when things get dirty.” 

“No problem. I needed a shower either way.” Amy laughs which makes Sam blush a bit. 

“Your Pokémon are all clean and healthy! Thanks for visiting!” thanks the nurse as she brings the healed Pokémon back to their respective owners.

“Thanks, Miss.” says Sam. The Trainers all reach for their Pokémon and leave the Center. The three of them all silently stroll down the Pewter City streets until they reach the City’s center.

“That was… pretty…” 

“That was horrible, Sam! I thought I could take ‘em. I got cocky!”

“Chill, eh? Your Kakuna’s fine. Our other Pokémon are fine. We’re fine.” Sam soothes. 

“I guess…” Matt solemnly sighs.

“Hey!” shouts Amy, trying to lighten up the mood. “Where are y’all going next? Cerulean I’m guessing!”

“Yeah,” Sam replies. “Cerulean’s next on the badge list.”

“That’s perfect!” Sam and Matt both look at Amy questionly. “My Dad and I need to get there either way. Why don’t you two boys carpool along?”

“That’d be great!” Matt grins, cheering up again.

“Great! We’ll leave tomorrow!” Amy waves goodbye at them as they part ways. Amy heads back to Pallet Town while Sam and Matt go back towards the Poké Center to hopefully find some vacant rooms for the upcoming night.

“Ekans! Use Poison Sting!” yells Danna. Her Ekans hops into the air with its tail ready to sting. It lunges towards its target with ferocity.

“Charmander. Smokescreen.” the Trainer calmly commands. A grey ball of smoke is shot out of Charmander’s mouth. It hits the Ekans dead center and blinds it. Ekans’ attack barely misses the Charmander. 

“Get back up you dirty snake!” cries Danna.

“Danna! C’mon! Let’s just leave the kid and get outta here!” Maxwell calls from behind a bush.

“I’m not letting that buffoon win anymore! Show him, Ekans! Use Wrap!” Ekans strikes its target and starts wrapping itself around it. The squeezes the Charmander closely, slowly suffocating it. “Poison Sting it!”

“Just finish this with Ember.” the Trainer says. Charmander’s mouth fills up with hot flames. It releases all of the fire with vigor, knocking the Ekans off itself. Charmander pats the dust and dirt off its scales before refocusing on the battle and looking at the Ekans dead in the eyes.

“Danna…”

“Shut up, Max! I’ve got this! WRAP HIM, EKANS!!!” Danna screams. Ekans lunges at the Charmander but misses. “YOU LITTLE…”

“Ember.” a blazing spark is shot at the Ekans. Ekans gets hit onto a rock before fainting. Danna retrieves her Ekans before swearing at the Trainer. She runs off with Maxwell deep into the foliage of Route 5.

“Char!” squeals Charmander. The Trainer scratches Charmander’s head before returning it into their Poké Ball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I started working on this project by myself. Before I had a friend with me but since Chapter 5, I was by myself. I don't really like this chapter too much and the next but I'll try to improve. Enjoy! :)


	6. Roadblock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, Matt and Amy start their journey to Celadon City but something stops them in their tracks! Or more so pops them in their tracks!

“Make sure that you’ve gotten everything!” yells Professor Oak. He’s standing in front of his muddy green truck wearing his usual white lab coat along with his standard attire. Beige pants. Green shirt. Brown shoes. Sam and Matt tiredly walk out of the Poké Center, practically dragging themselves to the car. 

“Why’d we have to go this early?” Matt groans.

“Because I have a meeting this early.” Matt sighs and lugs himself onto the dirty vehicle. 

“Thanks for taking us, Professor.” smiles Sam. Oak gives him a friendly wave.

“Wouldn’t want you walking around that cave by yourself!” he cheerfully replies. Sam hops onto the truck and sits next to Matt. He looks around the truck, searching for someone.

“Where’s Amy?” Sam asks.

“Oh she’s in the back. She probably likes mornings less than you two do.” he jokes. “By the way…” Oak pulls out two backpacks from the car’s front seat. He hands the bags to Sam and Matt. “Your parents told me to bring you these. They said that they’re full of clothes and camping gear. They also said that they would kill you if you ever got injured so keep that in mind.” the professor smiles at the boys. “Alright! Let’s get showing the road!” Matt looks at Sam with a confused look as the motor starts. Sam just replies by shrugging as the car starts to move. 

“So, uhh… You boys ever been to Cerulean?” Oak asks, trying to start up a conversation. 

“I kinda went. Dunno if being saved there counts though…”

“Ah yes… Let’s, uhh… how about we forget about that time, huh?” 

“Sure.” sighs Sam. He looks out the window. Green trees zip past them as they ride on the dirt road. The truck bumps up and down and rumbles and gurgles. Sam wonders how old this truck must be for it to be making all these uncomfortable noises. He then wonders if Amy was safe. She was sleeping in the back unsupervised. 

“I’ve been to Cerulean with my Grandma before. It was only because she had a dentist appointment there and my Mom or Dad couldn’t be there with her.” Matt explains. “After the appointment was over, we went to get ice cream. But that’s really all I know about Cerulean City. I don’t even know if they still have the same ice cream place. Or even the same dentist. Wait… never mind. My mom had to go there last month. But maybe they had to shut down since then…” Sam tunes out Matt’s babbles and starts thinking about stuff. He thinks about that terrifying journey through Mt. Moon and the dirt road to Cerulean City. He thinks about the blossoming spring trees and his first Pokémon. He thinks about how bad he is at Pokémon battling. During these thoughts, he swears to get better. ‘ _I’ll train with my Zubat ‘till I can finally properly battle!”_ he thinks. Sam slowly drifts off to sleep; thinking about nice, cozy thoughts…

“Sam? Sam! Sa-am!” Sam wakes up to the sound of his own name. He rubs his tired eyes and looks up to see a blurry somebody above him. He rubs his eyelids again to clear up the rest of that tiredness. 

“Are we there already?” he asks in a slow and tired voice. 

“No, Sam. We sorta hit a roadblock.” the voice says.

“Roadblock?” Sam fully opens his eyes to see a popped tire in front of him. He spins around to see Oak and Matt at the back of the truck, looking for stuff. He twirls back around and sees Amy looking at him.

“Hey Sleepyhead! Finally awake?” she teases.

“What happened?” Sam asks. He looks around—blooming trees encircled the bumpy dirt road. Grey boulders and brown puddles were littered around the road as well. “Did we hit a rock or something?”

“Well… kinda…” Sam looks at Amy questionly. He looks back towards the popped tire and spots a tiny something stuck onto the rubber. He kneels down to examine the object. It’s sharp and pointy. Rugged and uneven with a texture similar to sandpaper. It resembles some sort of brown rock yet completely not at the same time. 

“What is this?” he asks Amy.

“Looks like you found a smaller one. There were huge ones that Dad took over back to examine!” Amy runs over to Oak and Matt, gesturing at Sam to come along.

“I think it’s some sort of scale…” the Professor grumbles.

“Do you think it’s from a Pokémon?” Matt asks. Oak continues to examine the rough scales. He takes out a small magnifying glass and stares down at it.

“I do believe so…” he examines it closer, looking at it intensely. “But Pokémon are extremely rare near this road. Especially something that could be strong enough to produce this kind of scale. I doubt it would ever come near this man-made road.” Oak sighs. “It also doesn’t help that this shard is pretty messed up from the tire’s pressure. If I were to have a fully intact sample, I’d probably be able to tell.”

“Hey, Professor!” Sam smiles. “Hey, Matt!”

“So you’re finally awake?” Matt says, grinning. He slaps Sam on the back and gives him a quick fist bump. “Take a look at this weird rock thing-y!”

“So back to the task at hand; does anyone know where we could get a new tire?” asks Amy.

Matt scratches his head or any answer. “There’s a pit stop somewhere around here. I saw a sign for one before the tire popped. I think it was… Mart’s—no Mort’s Pit Stop. Or at least something like that.”

“Alrighty then! Let’s go look for it!” Amy gleefully shouts. “Do you remember which direction it was?” 

“I have a hard time remembering…” Matt once again scratches his noggin. “Either east or west.” he says, pointing in the respective directions. 

“Alright. We’ll split up into two groups,” says Oak. “I’ll go with Matt over to the west while you two can investigate the east road. Remember to stay safe. Since there’s no cell service, we’ll have to be extra cautious. Meet here in 30 minutes. Alright?” everybody nods in agreement. “Oh! And before you leave,” Oak reaches into the truck and takes out a large hiking pack. He pulls out three plastic wrapped sandwiches and passes them around. “Some lunch in case you get hungry. It’s only some unfinished sandwiches but it should do. I have more if you get hungry!” he laughs. Sam sniffs the sandwich. Its pungent sour scent breaks through the plastic wrap and makes his nose wither. “Thanks, Professor.” Sam says with a shaky smile. He quickly stuffs the sandwich into his pocket, planning to discard it later. Although Amy is less subtle. Prompting to throw it away while the Professor was looking elsewhere. They soon all set off to find the pit stop. With Professor Oak and Matt heading into the sunny flats of the west while Sam and Amy venture into the east road’s shady forest. 

“What do you think that scale was?” Amy asks her partner. Sam starts to recall what the scale’s shape and colour was before giving her his answer.

“Well it was very sharp and rough but not super rocky so it probably wasn’t from a Rock Type. Do you know anything like that that could live around this area?”

“Well not really. There aren’t really that many Pokémon here in the first place. No Pokémon in or around Mt. Moon could have scales like those.” the two of them continue speculating on the origins of the scales as they tread through the forest. The uneven pathways made it especially hard to navigate with them constantly bumping or even tripping on hidden rocks, large roots and even fallen branches. Eventually, the two of them had reached an edge that stopped them from going forward. The edge descended into a bright meadow. Full of spring flowers and Bug Type Pokémon—buzzing about. 

“Are you sure the Pit Stop’s in the forest?” asks Sam. He’s panting from the trek here.  
“The Pit Stop’s on the west side.” she nonchalantly replies.

“WHAT?! Why didn’t you tell us earlier?!” Sam demands. He starts pacing around the area.

“Because I’m sure whatever had popped the tire was a Pokémon,” Amy explains. “And the only Pokémon on these roads would come from the forest. C’mon! Dad would never let me hunt down this Pokémon if I had asked.”

“But why are you so invested in this thing?” 

“Because! What if it’s a new species of Pokémon? You saw Dad! He couldn’t figure out what the scale belonged to! Just imagine a newly discovered Pokémon who roams the roads! No Pokémon goes near the roads! This would be one of the greatest discoveries! It may even be a new evolution to something…” Amy gazes down the small cliff. Butterfree and Metapod play in the flowers while Weedle and Kakuna sleep in the shade of the trees. She approaches the mini-cliff and looks attentively across the meadow. Amy notices a miniature chasm at the end of the field. She looks closer and sees a shadow moving in the hole. Pointed angles were scattered along the odd shadow. Amy cautiously shimmies over to the edge of the small cliff. She slides down the dirt, leaving a cloudy trail of dust behind her.

“Why are we going down there?” 

“I think I saw something in that hole over there,” she points towards the hole in the meadow. “It could be the source of the scale!”

“And what makes you say that?”

“It was super spiky! You’d know if you saw it!” Sam slides down the steep edge, tumbling and falling at the end. He coughs out a clump of dirt onto the ground.

“Nice going.” Amy giggles. Sam coughs out another lump of dirt.

“I think I cut my lip…” he rubs his hand along his lower lip, feeling for a cut. “Is it bleeding?” he continues to feel his lip until he finds a wet stinging spot with something lodged inside of it. Sam plucks out the sharp object, flinching at its exit. It’s a rough, sharp and spiky looking thing, covered in Sam’s blood. 

“Wait! Is that another scale?” Sam examines it once more and notices the extreme similarities of it between the ones that popped the tire. In fact, it’s pretty much the exact same scale.

“Seems like a perfect match…” says Sam. He offers the scale to Amy but she rejects it with a look of disgust. 

“I don’t want it. You keep it.” she says. Sam looks at the scale one last time before shoving it inside his pocket.

“Alrighty then...” 

“See? I knew the perpetrator was down this here meadow!” Amy cheers. She grabs Sam’s hand and rushes towards the pit, dragging Sam along the floor with her. 

“Hey! Stop that! OW!” Sam exclaims. “Wait! We aren’t going down that hole, are we?” Amy ignores Sam’s pleas. She jumps down the pit, bringing Sam down with her. The two of them land onto the dusty floor with a thud. Amy landing on her feet, Sam landing on his chin. 

“Why do you keep doing this to me?” Sam asks. He rubs his bruised chin while wiping dirt off of his knees.

“The first time was _your_ fault,” she giggles. “So stop complaining and let’s go find us a new Pokémon species!” The small pit spreads off into multiple smaller tunnels about half the size of both Amy and Sam. The two of them get onto their stomachs and start to crawl through the biggest tunnel. 

“Good thing Matt didn’t come along. I doubt he’d fit into these things.” Sam jokes. The two continue to crawl. The tunnels seem to be getting wider and wider as they crawl further into them. Soon, Amy spots a light. The two of them speed up their crawling, hoping to reach the end sooner rather than later. Soon after, both Sam and Amy are able to reach the end of the tunnel. They both enter a rock filled room that’s covered in dust. Tiny glimpses of sunlight are emitting from the ceiling. Boulders line the walls of the room, resting there. The room looks like it's been abandoned for years. Scratch marks coat the floor and walls. Sam leans in to inspect the claw marks.

“I don’t think this is a Pokémon’s nest…” Amy sighs, rubbing dust off herself. “And I don’t think I could crawl through another one of those tunnels.”

“Actually…” Sam leans closer to the scratch marks. He pulls out the scale from earlier and lines them up. He claws a bit of the ground next to the scratches with the scale to produce an exact replica. Both scratch marks look alike. “Look at that. Another exact copy. These scratches were made by something with these scales rubbing against the floor. They’re fresh, too! Look at them!” Indeed, the two scratches side by side are practically the same. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asks Amy.

“Look at it. If it were to be older, the mark would be more faded as dust settled in. But there’s no dust in the indent.”

“So that means..!”

“It means these are fresh and there’s something living here!” Sam walks towards one of the large boulders along the wall. He then smashes the scale onto the boulder, turning the scale (and his hand) to dust, wincing at the pain. “Look at this! The scale, when smashed onto a rock, produces a dust that looks…”

“Exactly the same as the dust all over the ground! So this means?!”

“We found it!” Sam cheers. He blows on his blood-red hand to hopefully cool the pain down.

“We’ve just discovered a new Pokémon!”  
“No. We’ve discovered a Sandslash’s nest!”

“What? I thought…”

“Think about it! Sandslash burrow. They have these spiky brown scales. Sandshrew have been known to hangout at Route 4. The place right outside Mt. Moon. It wouldn’t be too far out of the realm of possibility for a lone Sandshrew to travel this far from its home. Their naturally Impish nature allows them to be extra cautious around roads. And their shells would protect them from predators!”

“So what you’re saying is…”

“We didn’t find a new Pokémon. I’m sorry…”

“That’s fine!” Amy grins, she bounces up and down with glee. She pulls out her Pokédex and starts to snap photos of the den. “We may not have found a new Pokémon *snap* but we did just find a rare occurrence! Maybe once in a lifetime, never recorded before, unheard of rare occurrence!” Sam smiles. He spins around the room, acknowledging his and Amy’s discovery.

“We should get back soon! 30 minutes are almost—” a low growl shakes the rocks in the Sandslash den. Scampering feet can be heard as hiding Rattata rush out of the room. Suddenly, a large cry echoes through the chambers.

“SAAAAND SLAAAASH!” 

“We gotta go!” Sam’s terrified whisper reaches Amy’s ear but she doesn’t answer. She’s frozen with fear. Sam pulls Amy towards the exit. “C’mon! Crawl already!”

The marching footsteps get louder and louder as the creature approaches. The sound of claws scraping against rocks rings in the background. Amy finally snaps out of her paralyzed trance and begins to crawl alongside Sam. They both quickly crawl out of the cavern and climb out the pit. Rain is pouring into the meadow. The once blue sky is now a dark grey. Mud soaks the floor and flowers droop with the weight of the water against their petals. They start sprinting out of the back towards the forest but Amy trips on a rock and falls. Sam stops to help Amy up. He leans over to pull her up, spotting an approaching figure. He yanks her up onto her feet, urging her to run.

“Let’s go! The Sandslash is coming!” Sam urges. Amy attempts to walk but instead falls back down.

“My ankle!” Sam hooks his arms around Amy’s shoulder, carrying her. He reaches the cliff where they came from and tries to climb. Droplets of water shower the steep cliff, making the dirt turn to slippery mud. Sam tries to crawl up the cliff but its steepness, Amy’s weight and the loose mud causes him to slip and fall down, splashing in the muddy floor below. Sam desperately claws at the cliff to no avail. The Sandslash continues to march towards them, claws out at the ready.

“Sand…” it says. The Pokémon towers before them. It grabs both of the two Trainers and drags them back to its den. Amy bangs on the Sandslash’s arm, trying to break free but the Sandslash holds onto them tightly.

“Why…” Sam groans.

“Boy,” pants Oak as he heaves a tire into the truck’s back. “These tires are heavier than they used to be. We’re lucky that we got the last few ones, right?” asks Oak, trying to be friendly. 

“I guess. Where’s Sam and your daughter?”

“I’m not sure. They better get back here soon.” Matt starts sitting down on the muddy ground.

“Don’t just sit there, Matt. Come on. Help me with these tires. Best we do something while waiting!” says Oak, cheerfully.

“Sandshrew! Sand-sand!” a Sandshrew playfully cries. 

“Shrew!” cries another.

“Sand. Sandshrew!” says one more. Sam and Amy seem to be surrounded by young Sandshrews in a large Sandshrew nest. Sam looks around the dirt and stone covered nest, searching for any exit. The one tunnel leading out of here was blocked by a large boulder placed by the Sandslash. A tiny Sandshrew crawls over to Sam and scratches at his pants. Sam ignores the Sandshrew’s claws and continues to look for an exit. He knocks the small Pokémon away but it just keeps coming back. 

“What do you want, Sandshrew?” he asks the Pokémon. Its response was smacking Sam’s pocket. Sam smiles at the little Sandshrew and pats it on the back. “You’re a good little guy, aren't ya?

“Wartortle!” spurts of water blast the boulder but it doesn’t break it.

“That’s alright, Wartortle. You can come back now.” Amy sighs, looking at the unscathed rock. “Did you find anything?”

The boy sighs. “Nope. It seems like the only exit was that tunnel.” Sandshrew hop and leap around the nest. The small shrew continues to scratch at Sam. It continuously claws at his pants—even with Sam’s constant retaliation. After being knocked back for the gazillionth time, the Sandshrew rolls towards Sam at blazing speeds. It smashes itself into Sam’s leg and knocks him over. Sam yelps in pain as the Sandshrew ricochets off of its target and into a stone slab, shattering it into pieces.

“Look, Sam! That tunnel!” Sam winces at the impact but still goes to investigate the newly opened exit. He flops down onto his stomach and starts to crawl through it. It’s a much tighter squeeze than the tunnels from earlier but he’s still able to crawl through. Sam soon reaches the end. He enters a dimly lit room full of indistinguishable stuff. A small crack in the ceiling lets a bit of sunlight and rain in. Sam bumps against the piles of stuff, trying to figure out what everything is. He hits his knee on a stranger object that flashes a bright light. Hitting it again causes another flash to appear. He picks it up and bangs it really hard making it turn on. The object that produced all of that light turns out to be an old lantern. Sam’s eyes lock onto everything else in the odd room. Piles and piles of random stuff are stacked around the room. Toys, trash, Poké Balls and more are littered around the area.

“What is this place..?” Sam whispers. The small Sandshrew rolls itself into the room. It looks up at Sam, curiously. 

“Sand?” it picks up a random Poké Ball and throws it into Sam’s pocket. He, however, ignores it. He continues to survey the room, seeking an escape tool. He sees a shovel, pickaxe and a bunch of crates.

‘Maybe if I break through the ceiling…’ he thinks. Sam picks up the shovel and a few crates. He stacks them onto each other, making a semi-stable staircase.

“Let’s hope this works.” he mumbles. Sam climbs up the crate staircase. It wobbles and shifts but Sam keeps climbing. The young Sandshrew cheers him on as he stabs his shovel through the ceiling, dislodging large chunks of dirt. Dirt, mud and pieces of debris fall from the sky, almost knocking Sam off his platform. He keeps stabbing the ceiling, trying to create a big enough hole for both him and Amy to fit through.

“Shrew?” the small Pokémon climbs up the staircase and stands next to Sam. It helps him by clawing at the ceiling, breaking a large hole.

“Thanks, Sandshrew!” the runt Sandshrew high-fives Sam’s knee and then claws at his pants once more. Sam chuckles at the little guy and gives it a nice rub on the head. “C’mon! Let’s go get Amy.”

“Shrew!”

“You found an exit!?” 

“Yep! The only problem is that you’ll have to climb up an unstable tower of boxes…”

“As long as we get out of here! I’m ready! Bye, Sandshrews!” Amy wobbles over to the secret tunnel with Sam. Sam helps her through the tight squeeze and the two of them get into the storage room. 

“Here. All you have to do is carefully scale these crates.” explains Sam.

“Yeah, yeah. I got this!” Amy cautiously climbs the shaking crates. Each step she takes causes the crates to shake even more. 

“It feels like it’s gonna fall but it isn’t! Trust me!” Sam yells from the bottom. Amy slowly reaches the top of the crates, closing in on the hole. 

“I’m almost there!” Amy takes one last step. The crates shake uncontrollably and one snaps in half. The tower of crates tumble and fall with Amy on top. She yells in fear as gravity pulls her down. 

“Sand!” the Sandshrew screams. It throws an old and dirty pillow at Amy which hits her and knocks her into a pile of plushies and mattresses. Amy gently gets up and out of the gross pile.

“T-thanks, Sandshrew.” she says.

“Sand! Sand!” it cheers happily. It rolls towards Amy and gives her a high-five on the knee. She looks at Sam in confusion but Sam just shrugs.

“Sorry… Most of the crates are broken now. How are we going to get out?” Amy asks. The Sandshrew just keeps on rolling around the room, oblivious to what’s happening. It rolls into a pile of miscellaneous stuff, knocking down a roll of rope.

“Sand!” it playfully cheers. It wraps itself around the rope and jumps up and down.

“What if…” Sam says, thinking. He grabs the rope along with a bucket and peg. “Come out, Zubat!” a flash of red light later, Zubat comes out.

“Zubat?” it asks.

“I need you to find a nearby tree and install this peg into it. We’re both counting on you!” Sam smiles. Zubat nods in understanding. It grabs the peg with its sharp teeth and flies away with it. Zubat soon returns with no peg in its mouth. It smiles at Sam and happily flies around him.

“Good job, Zubat! Now can you hook this knot of rope around it?” Zubat once again nods. It carries away the rope and then returns. Sam holds the other end of rope in his hands. “You can climb a rope, right?” Sam asks Amy.

“Hopefully…” Sam hands Amy the rope. She tugs the rope which feels loose. “You sure this can hold?” 

Sam shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders. “Dunno. Guess we’ll have to find out.”

“You mean _I_ have to find out.”

“I could go first if you’d like.” Sam offers.

“Nah. I’ll go,” Amy rubs her palms together, getting ready to scale the rope. “Here I go…” she climbs the large rope, climbing until she reached the top. Amy gives Sam a quick thumbs up before holding the rope for Sam.

“I’m going now!” he yells. “Zubat, return.” the bat zips back into its container. Sam starts climbing up the stringy rope. Small chunks of dirt fall onto his face but he just shakes them off. Sam keeps climbing until he nears the top, almost free from the Sandslash’s cave. But all of a sudden, the rope suddenly gained weight as a small Sandshrew started its own climb up. The rope started to swing from side to side as the Sandshrew continued its quest to climb the rope and reach the top. The rope’s momentum was speeding up as the little Pokémon climbed. Soon, the rope was swinging so much that it knocked Sam and the Sandshrew into the wall, causing an assortment of rocks to fall. Sam gasped as he was slammed against the cave wall, feeling his arm getting severely bruised in the process.

“Hey! Slow down, Sandshrew!” Sam said, struggling for breath. Sandshrew slowed its climbing down to a halt. It looked up at Sam with confusion. A few more chunks of rock tumbled down from the ceiling, causing the room to echo. Some Sandshrew from the other room came in to see what the commotion was all about.

“Sand?” they asked.

“C’mon, Sam! We have to get moving!” shouted Amy from above. She was gesturing to Sam to hurry. So that’s exactly what Sam did. He inhaled a large gulp of air and started climbing. His arms were sore from the previous impact and his hands were blistering from holding the rope for so long but he kept at it. Seeing Sam start to climb, the Sandshrew started too. It easily scaled the strand of rope and was soon just under Sam as he started climbing out. Finally, both Trainers have reached the top, ready to leave. 

“Let’s get out of this valley and back to the truck A.S.A.P. What time is it even?” asks Amy. 

“No idea. I never carry a watch.” he jokingly replies.

“Well this is no time for a joke! We gotta get back! Who knows what time it is! They could be worried sick—waiting for us to come back… or worse… They could be looking for us!’ Amy starts hobbling for the valley’s exit without even waiting for Sam. She was surprisingly fast for someone with a damaged leg.

“Hey! Wait up!” he starts going after the girl and soon catches up. The two climb out of the small valley and head into the forest, searching for the way they came from. 

“Shrew-shrew?” the Sandshrew asks as it watches the two enter the forest. It wobbles in their direction, following them.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“I’m like 90 percent positive!” Sam looks at Amy, doubtingly. “Okay… maybe 80 percent. 60 percent?”

Sam flops down onto the damp forest floor and grumbles. “We’re completely lost, aren’t we?”

“50 percent sure?” shrugs Amy. “C’mon. We can’t just sit around a mope about it.” she looks around the shadowy forest. Her eyes soon flash lightbulbs. “How about we use Zubat to search for them? It can look up high and—”

“Too bright. Zubat won’t be able to withstand the light. Also, she can’t see.” Sam lazily responds. Suddenly, his stomach starts rumbling. “Boy, am I hungry.” Sam rummages through his brown pockets in search of anything edible. Although Amy looks at him with anger and disappointment, she can’t deny how miserable she feels. Tired, lonely, hungry and more. All of this culminates into her giving in and flopping down next to Sam. 

“Don’t you have that sandwich or something?” Amy asks.

“They’re probably rotten and I’d still rather take my chances with some wild leaves over this thing.” Sam pulls out the sandwich's bag in disgust, throwing it at a tree’s trunk. The bag tears against the rough bark of the tree and releases the rancid odor out for the public. Angry squawks from resting Pidgeys and scampering from wild Rattatas could all be heard as the sandwich encapsulated the area in a scent so bad that it would cause a Magneton to melt.

“Sam! You just released the entire thing!” cries a squeaky voiced Amy. She was pinching her nose so hard that you could see blood visibly draining from that region. Sam tiredly groans and staggers up to his feet. He forces himself over to the stinky sandwich, ready to deal with it. But before Sam could do anything, a young small Sandshrew rolled over to the and gobbled it up. 

“What the..?” Sam kneels over and looks at the Pokémon. “Wait! Y-you’re that Sandshrew! The one that was clawing at my pants! All you wanted was the sandwich?” Amy bounces up onto her feet with a hopeful glint in her eyes.

“Who are you talking to?” she asks.

“It’s the Sandshrew from the den! It must’ve followed the scent from the sandwich in my pocket and found us!”  
“That must be one strong nose.” 

“If it could smell my sandwich…” Sam thinks, cogs turning in his head. He looks up at his friend with excitement. “It might be able to smell Matt and Oak’s!”

“Sweet!” Amy exclaims. Sam carefully picks up the broken sandwich bag and gives it to Sandshrew. 

“There’s more of these, Sandshrew. I promise. You just have to help us find them.” says Sam. The little runt blinks twice, seemingly understanding the Trainer. It takes a long, hard sniff at the bag and its eyes open. The Sandshrew starts rolling, tracking the sandwich’s scent.

“Hmmm. Where are they. I’m starting to get worried. It’s been almost an hour since they were supposed to get back here…” mumbles Oak. Even though Matt doesn’t show it, he too is worried for his best friend (and to some extent, Amy). 

“Don’t you have something to find them?” Matt asks. “Like a Pidgeotto? Or something else that can fly?”

“I’m afraid not, Matt. I never really liked Flying types, but I do regret not getting any. Matt sighs in both frustration and anxiety. While Matt sits down, Oak continues to pace around.

“Alright! It’s been too long. I’m going to look for them.” says Matt.

“Me too. Better late than never.” but right as Matt and the Professor were about to leave, they could hear happy shouting from the forests. Sam was running out with a stumbling Amy in tow. 

“Dad!”

“Matt!” they said in unison.

“Amy! Where have you been? I was worried sick!” Oak says with his best attempt at a stern face. His face soon melted into one of happiness. 

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Amy apologizes. “We got trapped by a Sandslash who threw us into its nest full of Sandshrews and—”

“Now, now, Amy.” Oak interrupts. “There can’t be any Sandshrew in this area. They live too far east for that to be the case.

“B-but… it’s true! Sam saw them too!” 

“It’s true, Mr. Oak. There’s a large den of Sandshrew deep in those woods. They seem to have gotten separated from the others when the road was built.”

“I guess this is a worthy thing to investigate… But you’re still staying by my side until you can prove otherwise, young girl!” Amy tries to explain the situation but Oak keeps countering. The two soon both go into an all out war, arguing about whether or not it’s possible for Sandshrew and Sandslash to live in these more humid areas. During their arguments, Matt slides over to his best friend.

“For the record, I believe you.” he says.

“Thanks,” Sam smiles. The two share a fistbump and some conversations before they get interrupted by a large crash. 

Professor Oak quickly spins around. “What was that?” a large crate seemed to be the culprit. Whimpers and groans could be heard from the crate. Sam and Matt both rush over to the crash-site and pick up the crate. Beneath the large object was a tiny Sandshrew, sniffling in pain. Oak and Amy both rush over to the Pokémon. The Professor quickly draws out a potion and sprays it on the Sandshrew.

“This little guy seems like a runt. They’re usually double the size.” the Sandshrew flails around on the floor, trying to escape. 

“See? Sandshrew!”

“I guess you’re right… Interesting how such a dry species can come so far. We should bring this fella back to its den. Any volunteers?” asks Oak. A silence washes over the area, all too tired to even think about going.

“Shhrew…” says the Sandshrew as he claws at the crate. He soon cracks open a small hole and reaches inside, grabbing a packet of wrapped up crackers. It breaks open the pack and nibbles on the food inside. 

“Hey! You can’t eat those! They’re stale!” says Oak. He grabs the pack of crackers away from the Pokémon and stuffs them into his pocket. Crumbs fly out of the Sandshrew’s mouth as he swallows the remaining crackers. He growls at Oak and leaps directly into his pocket, jumping in and gobbling up the stale food. Oak jumps in surprise, dropping the food and the Pokémon from his brown pants. 

“Why does it keep eating the expired stuff?” Matt curiously asks. 

“I guess it just likes it..?” Sam responds. “Who knows anymore.” the small Sandshrew finishes up the rest of the crackers before burping out a cloud of crumbs. 

“We’re getting off topic,” states the Professor as he dusts crumbs of his clothes. “If none of you want to return him, then I will. Come here, little fella.” the Professor attempts to pick up the Sandshrew but it only makes the Pokémon angry. It bites Oak’s finger and squirms out of his grasp.

“Looks like it doesn’t want to go back,” says Sam. “I think it wants to stay here and eat.” the Sandshrew jumps into the wooden crate but Sam pulls him out just before he could eat anything.

“We can’t just leave it here, though! It helped us get out.” says Amy. Sandshrew looks at Amy at puffs up its small chest.

“Sand!” it pridefully says. Sam scratches the Sandshrew’s neck and it snuggles against his fingers.

“Then I’ll catch it!” he says. The Sandslash looks at Sam questioningly, tilting its head. “That is, if he wants to be caught.”

“Sand? Sand!” says the Sandshrew as he scratches at Sam’s pocket, knocking out the Poké Ball hidden inside one of his jean pockets.

“I forgot I had this thing here.”

“Looks like it wants to get caught.” Matt says. “Go on, Sam. Catch it!” 

“Sand!” the Sandshrew jumps forward into Sam’s arms, right up against the Poké Ball.

“Are you sure, Sandshrew?” asks Sam. 

“Shrew shrew.” says the Sandshrew in agreement. Sam gently taps the Sandshrew with the dirty Poké Ball. A bright flash of neon red light bursts from the ball and surrounds the Sandshrew. The flashing lights soon start to shrink as the small Pokémon is sucked inside.

“Yes! I got it!” Sam cheers.

“No time for anymore celebrations. We’ve got to get going or I’ll be late. And don’t worry! Matt and I have already replaced the tire so let’s get in the car and go!” cheers the Professor. All four of them start heading back to the truck while Oak rearranges the fallen boxes and crates.

“Cerulean City… here we come.” smiles Sam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last of the pre-written batch. I hope I can finish the next chapter soon!


	7. Hunting Fairies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy goes looking for an apparently rare and extremely powerful Pokémon while Sam and Matt... try to relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haven't posted anything in a long time. Hope whoever even reads this will still enjoy the new chapter!

Bumpy roads which once shaked the car have now become smooth paths as Professor Oak’s truck approached the windy city of Cerulean. Gusts of wind blew past the car as it approached Cerulean’s city square. Massive buildings towered over them, casting elongated shadows all around the city. The sound of car horns blared through the city’s roads as cars were rushing back home. By the time they reached their final destination, it was already night. White stars beamed down through the towering structures as Professor Oak parked his car in a massive, concrete parking complex. They all got out of their seats and stepped onto the Cerulean sidewalk and stretched their limbs after that grueling ride.  
“Finally here—Cerulean City. Best get your bags. We still have to walk to the hotel.” yawned Oak. They started their sleepy march towards the hotel, too tired to converse about the city. After what seemed like hours, they finally arrived at the hotel doors. A couple of uniformed people came to take their luggage while a caretaker gave them their keys. Finally, they could rest.   
  
A challenger at the Cerulean City Gym gets ready. He wipes some sweat off of his forehead and grins.   
“Use Focus Energy.” the Mankey tightens its muscles and focuses its mind. “Now Karate Chop.” it swings its focused hand at the massive Goldeen, critically injuring it.   
“Goldeen! No!” the Leader shouts as her Goldeen goes down. It flails for a bit before finally fainting. She returns the fish into her Poké Ball before stretching herself. “You know, it’s been awhile since I’ve had a Trainer this strong. You may have taken out my Goldeen but you won’t be able to overcome Starmie!” she says as she throws out her prized Pokémon. The Starmie screeches before angrily staring at the Mankey.  
“Use Pursuit.” the Trainer calmly says.

“So… what are we doing today, Professor?” Sam asks through the bright rays of sun shining into the hotel’s dining area.   
“You two are doing whatever you two want to do. As long as you two kids stay out of trouble. Any sign of danger, run. Even if you’re legally allowed to go out on your journey, I’m still your legal guardian. You can officially leave tomorrow. For now, just enjoy the city. You’ve been through a lot of trouble what with the Team Rocket shenanigans and whatnot. Have fun!” grins Oak as he crunches down onto a slice of toast.   
“Well then, compadre. Looks like it’s time to kick back and relax.” says Matt with a sunny grin.   
“It does appear to be so, pardner.” says Sam as he lays back into his seat. “Where we heading?”   
“Wherever the wind takes us.” Matt laughs.

The eastern green fields of Route 4 glowed and shimmered with shining dew. Wild Rattata and other smaller Pokémon were grazing the green grass, birds soaring above and small Sandshrews digging expansive tunnels below. Amy entered the Route with tons of Poké Balls and extreme determination. She was going to find something—anything. Rare Pokémon were rumoured to be lurking in the eastern region of Route 4, she was going to find them.   
“All right! I’m ready!” she declared to the wilderness.

A large, old stone structure towered before the two chums. Clumps of moss and cracks coated the crumbling tower while vines ensnared around its large, stony pillars. Branches poked through the roof of the building and bunches of leaves grew out of the windows. It was definitely a sight to behold. The old abandoned courthouse.   
“Ooooh! The spooooky courthouse! Ooo—”  
Sam looks over the old courthouse in confusion. He turns to Matt and asks him the obvious question. “Yeah, yeah. It’s a spooky, old and abandoned courthouse. Why are we here again.”   
“C’mon, Sam! It’s the famous haunted courthouse!”  
“Never heard of it,” Sam whistles. “is it some sort of museum?”  
“H-how?” Matt groaned.   
Sam shrugs, “We’re here anyways. Might as well explore.” Matt shakes his head in disappointment as Sam carefully enters the ancient structure.   
  
“Nothing here…” Amy’s pale hands ruffled through the dewey grass of the Route, searching for any signs of an unnatural occurrence. Any foreign footprints or samples such as hairs or scales could help her in her search for this mysterious Pokémon but nothing was found. “I don’t even know what I’m looking for,” she groaned in annoyance.   
Minutes became hours as Amy continued to search (and fail) for the legendary creature. The evening sun started to really amp up its warmth, shining down rays of intense heat.  
“Bent over in the grass? Ugh.” Amy turned her exhausted head towards the strange new voice. Her gaze was met by another teenage girl’s. A girl wearing a large, leather sun hat that casted a dark shadow over her body and her breezy yellow vest. She had unnaturally pale skin and some gemed pink sunglasses. She had a cocky smirk plastered on her shaded face. “I assume you’re looking for the rare and… powerful… Pokémon?” she asked in a mocking tone. “Well you best be leaving, darling, because it’s mine.” she smirked.  
“Oh yeah? Why’s it yours? You just showed up.”  
“Well it’s mine because I’ll find it first. After all, I am the superior Trainer. Powerful Pokémon are attracted to powerful people, after all.” Amy’s temper was slowly rising. She took a deep breath in and calmed herself down before getting up to meet eye-to-eye with this new Trainer. Even through her tinted sunglasses, Amy could tell that her eyes were flashing with irritation at her unwillingness to leave. “So you best leave before you get hurt.” she sneered.  
“Or what? Give me one good reason that I should leave.”  
“Fine. I’ll just have to beat your Pokémon so hard that you’ll have to leave.”  
“Fine by me. Pokémon battle. Loser leaves!” Amy declared. “Go, Wartortle!”

“Look at this place! So creepy! So mysterious! So—” Matt studied the decrepit courthouse and sighed. “You know what? This is pretty boring.” the two friends were in a dimly lit courtroom chamber. No side windows were present to help light the room. Instead, small, broken gaps were situated in the roof; letting tiny bits of sunlight through. The room was also as crumbling as its exterior. With dirty sitting rows and a half-destroyed judge bench. Not to mention the outdated decor such as the dusty purple and red flower-pattern carpet.  
“Well then why is it famous?” Sam asked.  
“History or some adult stuff. I dunno. Wanna go find something else to do? I bet there’s a nearby Route where we could train our Pokémon.”  
“Sure. Why not.” just as the two friends turned their heads to face the old entrance way, the doors slammed shut, locking them inside. Sam runs to the old, wooden door and bangs his closed fists on its ancient surface. “W-what happened?” Matt ran over to face the old door as well. He slammed his hand onto the door but it wouldn’t budge.  
“Push together in three. One, two… three!” both of them pushed with all of their might onto the decaying doors but it didn’t budge. It was like something was blocking the door from the other side. “Send out your Pokémon! Maybe they could help! Zubat can fly and Sandshrew could help push. I doubt Kakuna would be any use.”  
Sam groaned into his own facepalm. “Good idea. Should’ve thought about that myself.” in a flaring flash of white light, Sam had released both of his Pokémon from their balls. “All right, gang. We seem to be trapped inside of this old courthouse. Zubat! Look for any escape. Search the whole room. The darkness should protect you from the light outside. Sandshrew—help push the door. Or maybe try to smash a wall?” the Sandshrew looks confusingly at its Trainer’s seemingly random instructions. It instead opts to roll around on the dusty courtroom carpet. “Sandshrew!” Sam sighed.   
“Zu!” the small bat obediently cried. It started searching every corner, gap and hole for any possible exit. Nowhere was left unchecked.  
“All right. We’re bound to find an exit eventually.” Sam calmly spoke.  
“The question is,” Matt mumbled as a dark, sparkling ball floated behind him. “when’s eventually.”  
“M-Matt… you might wanna turn around…”

“Okay, cutie! Use Vine Whips again!” two light green vines shot out of the Pokémon’s bulbous backside. They encircled the poor Water-type before proceeding to slash its body.  
“War!” Wartortle screamed in pain. The turtle glared at its opponent in anger as it watched it grin.  
“Use Rapid Spin!” Wartortle retracted itself into its hard shell and started spinning at blinding speeds. It spun itself towards the opponent and knocked it, along with its green vines, away.  
“Ivysaur, no!” the girl cried as her Pokémon was knocked into a nearby bush. The Ivysaur, however, was not done. It jumped out of the bush with ferocity. “Good, girl! Now blind that lizard with Sleep Powder!”  
“She’s a turtle!”  
“Scales, cold-blooded and creepy. Lizard.” she rebuked. The Ivysaur launched itself at Wartortle and did a mid-air barrel roll, releasing a somniferous powder from its flower that filled Wartortle’s nose and mouth. The blue turtle soon fell victim to its deadly effects and fell into a deep sleep. “Now Take Down!”  
“Wake up, Wartortle!” Amy pleaded, but the Pokémon continued its deep slumber. The Take Down soon landed onto the defenseless Wartortle, knocking it out.   
“And I win, obviously.” she smirked.  
“No fair! You had a Grass-type!”  
“So? You still lost fair and square.”   
“Why you…”  
“Please,” she sneered. “I have a name. Avery, it is. And don’t forget it.” Avery laughed as she returned her Ivysaur into her Poké Ball. “You better leave before I kick you out. It’s my Clefairy now.”  
“Clefairy? HA! Do you know how common those things are?” Amy asked. “I don’t even want it anymore. You can keep it.” Amy returned her own Pokémon back into her rightful Poké Ball and started walking out of the grass. Partly because she hated that girl Avery and wanted to get far away from her and partly because she felt annoyed that the so-called “rare” Pokémon was nothing more than a common Clefairy. “I’ve seen tons of Clefairy.” she mumbled. “How could this one be so “rare”?”

“Your Pokémon is all healed up and ready to go!” Nurse Joy sang. The calming pink and white Pokémon Centre never stopped to amaze Amy with its amazing technology and speedy health-care.   
“Thanks, Miss.” she smiled.  
“No problem. Just stay safe out there!” the Nurse laughed before leaning over the Pokémon Centre counter and into Amy’s ears. “A Trainer like you must’ve heard about that rare Clefairy in Route 4, right?” she whispered.  
“Oh. I was just looking for it. But it’s just a Clefairy. I’ve seen plenty of those in Mt. Moon before.” she politely answered.  
“This one’s special. People say a Breeder was breeding some Clefairy but he lost one of the eggs. People say they’ve spotted weird things in the forest, too. Some claim that they’ve seen flashes of darkness, darker than the night. Others say whirlwinds and slight earthquakes. No one knows what’s causing them but they say that it’s Breeder’s Clefairy. Somehow, he’s bred the strongest one ever!” Amy gasped in excitement as her hope for finding a rare Pokémon returned. “But ah—it’s only a legend. No one’s found proof of rampant fires and terrifying tornadoes coming from Route 4. And no photographic evidence exists. All we have are rumours and allegations. Maybe a Trainer like yourself can find it. Who knows.” she recounted why shrugging. Amy rushed out of the Centre and was running off to Route 4, ready for another chance at finding this Pokémon.

Back in the grassy plains of Route 4, Amy wasn’t going to give up. Even if she was going to run into that stuck-up brat, Ave—  
“What are you doing here?” she spat. Avery’s once white and silky vest was now covered in dirt and grime. Grass stains littered her shoes and long, white socks while actual grass was seemingly growing in her large, woven hat.  
“I’m looking for the Clefairy, thank you very much.” Amy snapped back.  
“Well you can have it! I’m sick and tired of this—this… dirt! It’s so icky in these fields. Good luck finding a myth, Poké-Nerd.” Avery motioned Amy away before spinning around and walking back to Cerulean. But before she could even move a few centimeters, a blinding flash of light flared up from the center of the field, followed by a large lightning bolt that caused a shock wave of wind to blow through the grassy fields.   
“The Clefairy! It’s real!” Amy shouted in pure glee.   
“It’s real and it’s mine!” Avery yelled back. The two rivals started racing for this supposedly god-like Clefairy. They were constantly butting in on each other, trying to get that edge to outspeed the other. “It’s playtime, Ivysaur!” she shouted as she threw her Pokémon out in front of Amy. The Poké Ball flashed its white light and released the Ivysaur, causing Amy to trip over the Seed Pokémon and fall, losing the race entirely. Avery soon reached the origin point of the light and saw the small Clefairy laying there. Amy leaped back up onto her feet and started sprinting towards Avery. But before Amy could reach her, she was already holding the Pokémon in her hands. “Finally! The beast is now mine!”   
“Clefairy!” it laughed.

“Abraaaa.” it raspily spoke. Tables and chairs started mystically floating around Sam and Matt.  
“W-what do y-you want?” Sam stuttered. Matt just stood there in fear as the Abra approached them, being in utter shock.   
“Abraaaa…” it drawled.  
“Zubat! Use Wing Attack! Sandshrew! Use Scratch!” Sam’s Zubat jumped into action. It flew right at the Abra and slashed it in the face. “Sandshrew! Get up!” Sam stammered, but the Sandshrew continued playing in the dust. Matt, finally snapping out, reaches for his own Poké Ball and throws his Pokémon out.  
“Poison Sting, Kakuna!” he commanded. The Kakuna immediately leaped into action, jabbing the Abra in the chest with its venomous stinger, knocking it out cold. The once locked doors soon swung wide open. Some light crept through the now open doors.   
“Abra?!” a young boy called from outside of the courtroom. “Where are you?! Abra?!” the Abra shook its head, waking up from its sleep. It levitated itself up and into the air. It started gracefully floating towards the exit, heading towards its worried Trainer.   
“Abra…” it whispered.   
“There you are, Abra! What were you doing there?” the boy worryingly asks. He then notices both Sam and Matt, all dusty panting at the exit of the courthouse. “What did I tell you about these “pranks”, Abra?”   
“Ab…” it relented. The kid ran over to the two people and apologized.  
“Are you two okay? I’m so, so sorry. My Abra likes running off and playing with people. He’s got a weird sense of humour.” he apologized.  
“I-it’s fine. Didn’t hurt any of us.” Matt replied.   
“I’m so sorry. Here! Have some cash as an apology.” the kid handed over a handful of coins to Matt before running off with his Abra before any of them could decline or interject. The abnormally strong Abra looked back at Sam and Matt with a look of… anger? The two of them just stared at each other in agony.  
“When can we get an actual break?” Sam groaned.

“Clefairy!” the small Pokémon laughed. It giggled and wiggled in Avery’s grasps.  
“So you’re the all-powerful Pokémon that the myths were talking about! I’ve finally got you! Wait until I show everyone! I finally found something worthwhile!” she gushed.  
“Hey! You tripped me! I was going to get it first!” Avery, ignoring Amy’s anger, continued to gaze in awe at the Clefairy.  
“How about you show me some of the powerful things that you’ve done! Use Fire Blast or Thunder or—or Focus Blast! Anything!”  
“Clef-lef!” the Clefairy cheered as it waggled one of its tiny, pink fingers. Suddenly, a wide shield appeared in front of the Clefairy, knocking Avery back and into the grass, further staining her clothes.  
“W-what did it just do?!” Avery wildly asked, groaning.  
Amy gasped in realization. “Metronome! It has Metronome! That’s why it could summon flames and whirlwinds! It wasn’t because it was super strong; it was because it was lucky!”   
“Random? Ugh! I don’t need any Metro-hicky. That’s just not interesting. You can have your stupid Clefairy. I’m leaving!”  
“Well,” Amy says as she crawls over to the fallen Clefairy. “looks like I should return you to your original owner. That Breeder must miss you.” Amy looks into the Clefairy’s child-like eyes, watching it watch her. “All this effort for a simple Metronome Clefairy.” she smiled. “I guess it was worth it.”  
“Clef!” she giggled. Amy carefully picked up the young Clefairy.   
“Don’t worry. You’re safe with me, Clefairy!”  
  
“You’re back! How did the fairy hunting go—” Nurse Joy dropped her tray of medications in shock as she saw what Amy was carrying. “It’s real? I can’t believe it.” she admired. The Clefairy was there—right in front of her. The legend was truly real.  
“Well… it’s only a bit real.” Amy admitted.  
“What do you mean by that?”  
“Well whenever people see it using some powerful move, it’s not actually because it knows that move. It’s more so that it uses—” An old man came bursting into the Pokémon Centre. He wore plaid everything. Green plaid shirt, brown plaid pants, everything. He ran towards the Nurse and shook her hand wildly.   
“I’ve discovered a new type of medication. Something that could change the world of medicine forever!” he exclaimed.  
“Well isn’t that convenient? Mr. Harrison, meet Amy. She just found your missing Clefairy!”  
“My missing what now?” the elderly man inspected the Pokémon that was in Amy’s grasp. He gently grabbed it, with a bit of resistance, and examined its pink face. “My Clefairy..? Is it really you? My my… you’ve grown!”  
“What’s going on exactly?” Amy asked, confused.  
“Well this was the Breeder that bred this very Clefairy in the first place.”  
“Really?”  
“Yep! The name’s Roger Harrison. Famous Pokémon Breeder!” he boasted. “Thanks for finding my Clefairy, miss, but it’s yours now.”  
“Mine?! Why mine?!” Amy asked, extra confused.  
“Well it’s because you found it. And you clearly like it. I’ve seen thousands of Trainers at my doorstep, looking for my fine Pokémon. I know the look of a Trainer who wants something. Trust me… because I trust you.” he winked.  
“B-but—wha? How? What?!” she stood there gasping. Mr. Harrison handed over the pink Pokémon.   
“Take care of it now. Me and Nurse Joy have some business to discuss.” he smirked. The two adults walked away, talking about Mr. Harrison’s new discovery. Amy was just left there dumbfounded. She looked down at the Clefairy in her grasps as it squirmed around in her arms while giggling.  
“Maybe he was right.” she quaintly smiled. Amy pulls out one of her red and white Poké Balls and hands it to Clefairy. “You wanna come with me?” she asks.  
“Clefairy!” she exclaims as she mashes the button on the Poké Ball and gets sucked into it. The Poké Ball jiggles in her hands before sealing, confirming her capture.

“How was everybody’s days?” the Professor asks at the, once breakfast, now dinner table.   
“I caught a Clefairy, Dad!” Amy cheered. “Right around Route 4!”  
“That’s great! What about you two?” both Sam and Matt exchange looks of terror and fear before Matt mumbles “fine” to the Professor.


	8. Battle for Nugget Bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An annual competition hosted on the famous Cerulean Grand Bridge leads to a new adventure as Sam and Matt both compete for the grand prize—a priceless golden nugget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like actually writing. I know not many people actually read this fic (most people use this site for their Explicit content anyways) but I felt like it'd be nice for those who do read to actually have some more content. Can't promise anything but I'll probably update more than before. Here you go!

“Gym Leader Misty will not be accepting any challenges at this moment. She’s very busy with her duties. Perhaps you could come back another time?” The Gym Coach shoved both Sam and Matt out of the pool-themed Gym and onto the hard concrete floor. Both Trainers crashed into the sidewalk with a thud, turning around to watch the Gym Coach slam the door behind them.  
“Ah crud. What now?”  
“Lunch? I’m famished…” a distinct gurgling whisper crept out of Matt’s empty stomach. Sam shrugged in response, pulling himself up from the pavement floor and dusting his pants off.  
“Maybe we should get lunch. It’ll be better than just sitting around for Misty to come back.” Matt silently cheered and grabbed Sam by the shirt collar with a snap, dragging him along the city’s streets to the nearest diner.

“You like that, Kakuna?” Matt rubs the cocoon Pokémon lovingly whilst it eats its food with the other Pokémon. He gets up and sits back into the diner booth with Sam, shoving a sandwich in his mouth.  
“You know, you shouldn’t be eating that quickly. Could choke or something.” Sam mutters.  
“Yeah, yeah, Mom. I’ll eat slower.” Matt laughs as he stuffs another sandwich slice into his already full mouth. “Mmph, mm mwoh mph matwh?”  
“Can’t hear you, bozo. Swallow before you talk, would’ya?” Matt swallows down his mass of bread, veggies and meats in a large and audible gulp before repeating himself.  
“How about some training before our match? It’d be better to be over prepared rather than under. What do you think, Kakuna?” Kakuna buzzes in agreement with his Trainer, ready for some action after all these breaks.  
“Guess it couldn’t hurt to train some bit.” Sam agrees.  
“Bet we could find some wild Pokémon on the nearby Route. Maybe even catch a new teammate!”  
“Eh, it’s better than this.” a yawn retreats to emphasize his point. “Come on. Let’s go!”

“Come one, come all to the battle of a century! The annual Nugget Bridge Battle! Sign up for a chance to win one of Cerulean’s prized Gold Nuggets! Do you have what it takes to win? Why don’t you come on down and find out!” Trainers of all different ages flocked down towards Cerulean’s grand bridge. An old, yet regal, wooden bridge that was first built to cross the winding Wrath River for resources on the other side. It now acts as one of Cerulean’s famous landmarks and a popular place for Pokémon battles due to its level floor and the lack of any hazards which could give certain Pokémon an advantage. It was also the hosting grounds of the annual Nugget Bridge Battle, a famous competition known all around the city for having such a wonderful prize, the Cerulean Gold Nugget. A gold-coloured pearl produced once a year from certain oysters found only in Cerulean waters, it was certainly a grand prize worthy of the title.  
“Sign ups are closing in! Anybody interested should hurry on over!” the announce blasts through her megaphones. Both Sam and Matt reach the bridge, confused. People were crowding around such an average wooden bridge, not letting the two pass.  
“Hey! What gives? Is it closed or something?” Matt asks a random passerby.  
“Don’t you know, kid? It’s the Nugget Bridge Battle. Trainers are going to compete for a prize.”  
“What!? Competition? Prize? Screw training on a Route! Let’s compete, Sam! Come on!” Matt pushes past the crowd of people, rushing to the front desk to sign up for the competition.  
“You sure about this? Our Pokémon might not be strong enough to beat these guys. Look at them—” Sam points towards the plentiful of Trainers and their Pokémon who have gathered on the bridge. Big, burly folk with Machamps and Hitmonchans. Swimmers with Gyaradoses and Cloysters. Bug catchers with tough-as-nails Beedrills. “these guys look a bit tough for our level…” Sam whispers through his lip-biting.  
“We’ll be fine! We lose, so what? We had our fun and got some Training out of it.”  
“I guess…” Sam begrudgingly agreed.

“Two Trainers, please!” Sam and Matt both quickly scribbled down their information onto the sign up sheet.  
“Here you two are: two teen tickets. You’ll be competing in the teen division.”  
“See? How great is this? Don’t even have to fight the people you were afraid of! No reason to complain, right?”  
“Right. Come on. Let’s do this.” Sam, feeling a surge of confidence after signing up, brought out his two Poké Balls and released the contents inside. “Alright Zubat and Sandshrew. You two ready to compete?” Zubat excitedly fluttered around the air, twirling in circles while Sandshrew just curled up into a ball.  
“Alright, Kakuna. Jab ‘em as hard as you can! We got this, right?”  
“Bzzt! Bzzt!” it cheered. Competitors started taking their positions on the bridge, bringing out their Pokémon for battle. It was a wonder that the old, wooden bridge could support all of these Trainers and their Pokémon.  
“You sure this is safe?” Sam asked his friend. “Isn’t this bridge like 100 years old?”  
“Probably. They do this every year. I doubt they’d continue if it was dangerous. They probably repair the bridge every month or so.” Matt reasoned. The bridge was decorated in a shiny coat of blue paint with several wooden decorations attached on to the sides. A lot of plaques and memorials were also on the bridge, representing war veterans and other contributors of Cerulean City. It was also home to a lot of different pieces of artwork, usually paintings of fish or the city itself.  
“Contestants; take your places!” a large screen hanging from the centre of the bridge showed the matchups between each Trainer. The different faces of each Trainer in the teenager’s division were all shuffling until they all took their places. Matt’s opponent was a pimply-faced boy with a stiff suit.  
“Good luck, Sam. I’m going to find my guy. Come on, Kakuna.” and with that, Sam was left all alone. He searched the bright screen for his opponent, finally settling in on her. It was a young-ish and short looking girl with black hair, a black hoodie and ripped jeans. Sam searched for the girl’s face amongst the sea of people whilst shielding his eyes and Zubat from the bright sun. Searching everywhere, Sam eventually gave up, thinking that she left or something.  
“Hey.” Sam jumped up from his spot, scaring his Sandshrew into playing dead. The girl sighed and took out her Poké Ball. “Let’s get this over with. Are you ready?” Seeing as how Sandshrew was currently out from shock, Sam had no choice but to use his Zubat.  
“Don’t worry about the sun. It’ll be quick—I promise.” Zubat nodded, trusting Sam, before leaping out of his hands and into the light. The sun’s rays burned Zubat’s skin but she toughed through it, ready for battle.  
“Go, Kangaskhan.” she boredly said.  
“Kanga!” it bellowed in a deep voice. The Kangaskhan pounded its long, armored arms and got into a battle stance.  
“Kangaskhan, huh? Never seen one in person before…”  
“Are we going or what? Kang, use Fake Out.” she commanded in a voice more monotone than the colour white. The Kangaskhan started sprinting towards Zubat, growling a fierce call. It smashed the small bat in between both of its hands, clasping it and causing it to flinch from the pain.  
“Zubat!” Sam cried out.  
“Stomp on it.” she continued. The Parent Pokémon ferociously slammed its foot onto the dazed Zubat, crushing it under the weight of such a powerful stomp. But it didn’t stop. The Kangaskhan kept on applying its weight onto the poor Zubat.  
“Zubat, use Supersonic!” the small bat screeched at the top of its lungs, blasting the kangaroo with an ear-bleeding sound. It stumbled back in confusion with its hands over its ears. The Kangaskhan’s vision was blurry and its ears were on the verge of breaking.  
“Again, stomp.” the black-haired girl demanded. Kangaskhan wobbled around before hitting itself in confusion with a massive blow to itself.  
“Now’s our chance! Wing Attack!” Zubat zoomed towards the Kangaskhan and wildly smacked the opposing Pokémon with its two small wings. The Kangaskhan continued to stumble around, unknowingly allowing the Zubat to get in closer and hit its softer stomach.  
“Kanga!” it shouted in pain. Zubat kept on slapping, eventually accidentally hitting the Kangaskhan’s pouch. The Pokémon roared in anger, somehow immediately snapping out of its confusion. “Skhan!” it bellowed. The short-girl smirked.  
“Now you’ve done it. Gotten it angry, have we? Use Bite.”  
“Dodge it!” Sam commanded. Zubat, as it was told, easily dodged the enraged Kangaskhan’s first Bite. However, the second one did hit, and it hit hard. The jaw of the angry Pokémon shut itself onto the Zubat, crunching it into oblivion. “Break out with Supersonic!” The bat shot another blast of sonic sound but it simply bounced off the Kangaskhan. It grabbed the Zubat out of its hands and threw it down onto the ground.  
“Why’s it so angry all of a sudden?” Sam muttered to himself. “Use Absorb!” Zubat attempted to fly up and regain the height advantage but the pain from the previous attacks, coupled with the scorching sunlight, was too much for Zubat. It pathetically fluttered a few more flutters before fainting.  
“Easy win.” the short girled sneered. “Didn’t even break a sweat. You, on the other hand—” she said, pointing at the desperate boy on the floor, sweating as he returns Zubat back into her Poké Ball.  
“And it seems that all competitors have completed their first round! We’ll take a short break to recover, then we’ll head straight back to the action!” the announcer echoed across the bridge. Sam continued to stay kneeling on the bridge, defeated.

“Whew! What a match! How’d you do, Sam? Bet you crushed it!” Both Sam and Matt were in the Cerulean Poké Centre, healing up their team from their previous battles. The pale Centre tiles were shining bright upon the duo. Sam was sitting down in one of the chairs as Matt ran to sit next to him. The pink and red colours of the Poké Centre gleamed was almost too cheery for Sam’s current mood.  
“I lost...” he sighed. “again.” the buzzing and the beeping of the Poké Centre’s machinery was echoing through the entire medical centre. Sam took out his Zubat’s Poké Ball and took a careful look at it.  
“How much do I have to tell you this? Cheer up; it was one match.” Matt said softly. “Don’t bring yourself down for that.”  
“You were right. I stand no chance against the Gym if I couldn’t even beat a random contestant. I’m going to train while you do your next match.”  
“Where are you going? The good spot’s across the bridge and that’s closed.”  
“I’ll just use Route 4.” he sighed. “Goodluck.” Matt put up a fake smile for his saddened friend, trying to be cheerful for him as he left the bright and happy Poké Centre.

The large computer screen shuffled around the remaining contestants. People of all ages cheered for relatives and friends, hoping for them to win. Matt, on the other hand, had no one to cheer for him. He slumped himself over on the bridge’s wooden floor. Looking up, he saw that his name and face had finally stopped shuffling about, stopping next to a black-haired girl’s photo. Easily spotting the girl in the hoodie amongst the other people, Matt ran towards her.  
“Hey. So, uh, you’re my opponent, right?” Matt asked with no response. Not even a movement of the head. “Hello?” he tapped the girl’s shoulder and she turned around in an instant.  
“Hey. Let’s get this over with. I’m already bored of this competition.” she groaned.  
“Nice to meet you too..?” Matt reached into his pocket to grab his single Ball. Rubbing the centre button for good luck, he took out the Kakuna’s Ball with confidence.

Dusk was approaching which made it the perfect time to train Zubat. Zubat was consistently outperforming everything on the Route, defeating everything in a single Wing Attack. Sam sighs in boredom, frustrated at how slow everything was going.  
“Maybe we should find some other Trainers who lost to battle? At least then it’d be harder than this.” Sam murmured.  
“Zu zu.” agreed Zubat. Sam motioned at Zubat to follow him. The two tread their way back to the City, walking through the long, green, dewey grass. As the two were heading back, Zubat picked up on some suspicious whispering, squeaking at Sam to follow it. Sam reluctantly accepted, following his companion to a small lake which was connected to the Wrath River. Two uniformed adults were crouching near the water with a tablet, watching what seemed to be the battle.  
“You really think Plan A’s going to even work?” the first one whispered, clearly a man due to their deeper and rougher voice.  
“Of course I don’t. But Boss trusts her for whatever reason anyways. I bet she’s going to fail spectacularly and get fired right on the spot. Maybe even handed over to the police, if we’re lucky!” a more feminine voice cheered in a low voice.  
“Bat?” Zubat curiously quirked its head, trying to make out more of their whispered words.  
“What are they doing?” Sam whispered in confusion.  
“Oooh! She’s losing her strut! Get the explosives ready.” the girl whispered in a cheery voice.  
‘Explosives?’ Sam thought. “We should get the police…” Sam started carefully walking away before accidentally hitting a poor Rattata, causing it to screech.  
“TATTA!” it screamed. Both uniformed adults turned their faces to the noise, spotting Sam and his Zubat.  
“You!” they both say in unison. With their faces revealed, Sam immediately recognized the weirdos. Two troublesome Team Rocket members known as Danna and Maxwell.  
“You two? What are you doing here?”  
“I’d like to ask you the same question! Go Electrode!” Maxwell snapped. Danna followed suit by sending out her Ekans. Both “Acid” and “Discharge” were shouted in concert.  
“Go, Sandshrew!” Sam threw the Poké Ball out in front of his Zubat to absorb the Electric attack. The sleeping shrew easily soaked up the Discharge, leaving the Acid to hit it and immediately wake it up. “Scratch and Absorb on Electrode!” Sam commanded. Both Pokémon dart towards the living ball, hitting it with their attacks and knocking it into the lake, causing it to explode. The blast was partly shielded by the water but the shock was still large enough to hit Zubat and Sandshrew with a bit of damage.  
“Oh come on, Electrode! Not again!” Maxwell sucks his Pokémon back into its ball and grabs another to replace it. “Go, Muk!” the pile of sludge gets launched out of its Poké Ball and onto the muddy dirt floor, causing mud to splash itself onto Danna’s clothes.  
“What did I say about dirtying up my uniform, Max?” Danna pointed her sharp finger towards her “partner”.  
“Ekans! Teach this man a lesson!” the small snake looked confusingly at its Trainer before spitting a glob of Acid upon Maxwell’s clothes. The weak fabric melts under the Acid’s strength burning his uniform’s shirt off.  
“Hey! We’re supposed to be on the same team here! Mud-Slap her!” not caring about the possible consequences, Grimer shrugged and threw a chunk of mud at Danna, dirtying her clothes even more. Sam looks at his Pokémon in confusion. Zubat flies over and grabs the small tablet on which they were viewing the battle and silently carries it back to Sam. On the screen was a low quality window into someone’s battle. A hooded Trainer and their Hypno facing off against a… Kakuna? It became clear as day that it was a stream of Matt and his previous opponent dueling on the bridge.  
“Sorry, kid—” Sam turned around to see Maxwell towering over him with a metallic remote in his hand. “you took the wrong device.” he jabbed. He smashed the button with as much force as he could muster. At first, nothing happened. But then faint pops were heard in the distance. The sound of the pops became bigger and bigger. Sam turned his head to face the City as it was covered in a veil of smoke. He quickly turned back around to see (or not see) the missing Team Rocket members. All that was left was the already pressed button and some of Maxwell’s burnt off uniform.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment any ideas or suggestions. I'd love community feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> Please Note:  
> This is something that a friend and I started writing. I'm just testing the waters with this project. New chapters will come out when they do and I'm not going to regularly work on this; just when I feel like it. So if you do (for some reason) enjoy this story and want more, I'm sorry if I can't deliver. That being said, I'll still try to finish the story as I don't want to leave it unfinished but I can't guarantee anything. But there are already 6 chapters that are ready so I'll post them when I can.  
> Also, if there are any grammatical errors or additional tags that I should add, please tell me. And if the formatting looks off, A) It's because I don't know much about this site and B) I copied and pasted this from a Google Document.
> 
> Thanks for understanding!


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